


Ride to Ruin

by Geektaire



Series: MacDixons [4]
Category: Boondock Saints (Movies), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexuality Spectrum, Multi, Other, Polyamory, Season/Series 06
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:28:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 46,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26625964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geektaire/pseuds/Geektaire
Summary: Season 6 rewrite.
Relationships: Connor MacManus/Carol Peletier, Daryl Dixon/Carol Peletier, Daryl Dixon/Connor MacManus/Murphy MacManus/Carol Peletier, Murphy MacManus/Carol Peletier
Series: MacDixons [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/448411
Comments: 28
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1 - First time again.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok... look, I can explain... I know it's been like two years and a half since I finished season 5 but my muse just fucked off God knows where and never came back. 
> 
> Or well, till now. 
> 
> I blame how annoying I found S6A, especially the pacing. Hopefully this will be somewhat better. 
> 
> Thanks, as always, to my lovely beta Charlotte Ashmore who finally guilt tripped me enough to use her bday as an excuse to force myself to sit down and write this shit. 
> 
> Love you all.
> 
> Also a heads up, I usually post until I'm done but I really need the feedback right now to force myself to finish this. I'm basically done with S6A (I'm writing the midseason finale as I post this) and the plan is to post as usual - 1 chapter a week, this time on Thursdays. Hopefully in 8 weeks, I'll be done with the whole thing... and the reason why I'm rambling is to say that the chapter count my change a bit, depending on how I see things going.

**Chapter 1**

**First time again.**

It hurt. 

It hurt to watch someone so young cry with such hopelessness. It hurt to think how a moment had changed the child crying in Carol’s arms forever. One moment he’d had a mother who loved him and was trying to do the right thing. The next she had been murdered by his father, only to be left an orphan seconds later. 

“You’re going to be alright, Sammy,” Carol whispered against his hair as she swayed with him in her lap back and forth. “I’m going to take care of you; we’ll keep you safe.” 

The boy’s cries could be heard everywhere in the house in the early morning hours. They had barely been able to get a couple of hours of sleep before Rick had delivered the news to the newest - now officially - addition to the MacDixon household. Little Sam hadn’t been able to stop crying and had only somehow calmed down when Carol had pulled him into her arms. 

They had all somewhat become used to loss, forgetting not all people had gone through what they had. Sam was a stranger to loss, although not a stranger to pain with what they knew from his life before the turn. But still, it was only because of the matriarch’s constant reassurance of his safety, and his new place in their midst, he had been able to calm down enough not to hyperventilate. 

Meanwhile, Ron was MIA. 

None of them had seen him since he had run from the courtyard after the meeting the night before. They knew he was old enough to know not to leave the protection the walls gave them, but they also knew he was a teenage boy who was hurting. And if he had already been a huge jackass before his parents’ death, they were, in all honesty, expecting him to become even worse.

He hadn’t been their priority at the time if they were being honest. While Rick had been put in charge of executing Pete; Murphy, Carol, and Daryl had been worried about trying to keep Connor’s blood inside him as much as they could. Not a small feat when the man had been bleeding like a pig in a slaughterhouse from his shoulder wound. 

Thankfully, luck had been somewhat on their side last night. Rosita had been able to patch Connor up, leaving him pale and breathing heavily from the loss of blood … but alive. The stubborn eldest MacDixon had refused to stay at the infirmary and had forced his brothers to carry him home so he could sleep in his own bed with his wife. 

“Are you helping prepare breakfast for Connor, princess?”

Mika’s smile was small while her eyes were red and puffy from crying, but the ten-year-old was busy taking things out of the fridge for Zach - who was standing in front of the stove cracking eggs and doing his best to avoid burning them. 

“We just thought Mama would have a hard enough time as it is. Rick already left to talk with Deanna, Michonne has Judy, and Carl went to look for Ron.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Murphy asked Zach, as he hip decked him away from the position in front of the stove. 

“I don’t know, man,” Zach sighed, starting to chop some of the canned fruit they had taken from the pantry. “It’s such a fucked up situation, I have no idea.”

“Welcome to adulthood, kid,” Daryl grumbled as he entered the kitchen, his eyes often moving towards the opening leading to the living room, trying to catch a glimpse of his wife. They all wanted to help Carol with Sam, but the boy did not want to be separated from her. At all. 

“If all this is what being an adult means, I so don’t want to be one.”

“It’s worse not getting to be one, princess,” Murphy murmured sadly as he pulled Mika close, kissing the top of her head. He could feel Daryl’s eyes on him at the implication, but he didn’t care right then. He was grumpy, somehow it felt like _his_ shoulder was weirdly on fire, and he had been scared shitless last night when he’d heard the shot ring out. 

“Shut up,” Daryl growled, glaring at his brother. Murphy just shrugged, not even caring about turning to look at him. “And you!” Daryl’s eyes moved then to Mika. “You will become an adult, and you won’t have to deal with all this bullshit. And if you do, you will just have to tell us and we’ll fix it.”

“Yes, Papa Bear.” Mika was barely able to hide her smile as she went to get the bed tray for Connor’s breakfast. 

“Aren’t you the sweetest thing?” Murphy crooned, turning to look at Daryl with a teasing smile on his face. “Who would have known under all the grime and grumpiness there was a teddy bear who would go out of his way for his little girl?”

“I knew.” Daryl sighed as he felt Carol’s arms sneak around his neck from behind, her chest plastered against his back as she dropped a kiss onto the side of his head. “From the moment I met him, I knew he was a sweetheart.”

“Staph.”

“I’m being honest. He just threw half a dozen squirrels at Rick in such a way which just screamed ‘sweetheart’ to me.” Daryl couldn’t help but snort, trying to cover his laughter as his face started to redden. 

“How’s Sammy?” 

Daryl felt her sag against him, as she allowed her weight to fall upon him. She was tired, she was tense, she was mourning their losses all over again. “He fell asleep a few minutes ago … “

“We don’t know where Ron is,” Murphy confessed, plating some eggs before pushing them towards Daryl knowing his brother would know who he meant them for. “Apparently, he ran away after we left last night … “

“We need to find him,” Carol said as Daryl pulled her around to sit on the stool beside him, a plate of eggs in front of her. “We have to take care of those boys now.”

“Is that your way of letting us know we’re going to be daddies again?” 

The look Carol gave her husband made him shut his mouth for once in his life. 

“Alright, we need to find the little asshole … where do we start?”

“You start somewhere outside, I am going to check on your brother, and see if I can get some sleep before round two.” Daryl smiled as he watched Carol devour the food they had set in front of her. “Go and see if you can be of help somewhere.”

“Are you telling us to get out of your hair?”

“Apparently, our family just grew by three members, since Rick’s friend is probably going to have to stay with us. I have a heartbroken ten-year-old and a pain in the ass forty-one-year-old who’s wounded and supposed to stay in bed all day … “ Murphy and Daryl made identical expressions of discomfort. “So yes, this is me asking you guys to do something productive, please.”

“We still need to talk about what happened on his run,” Murphy mumbled, his mouth full as he pointed at Daryl with his fork. “I saw the look on Aaron’s face; something definitely happened.”

“Shut up.”

“Alright,” Carol said, sighing. “Were you bitten?”

“No.”

“Are you injured?”

“No.”

“Well … that’s enough for the time being. Go speak with Rick if there’s anything important you need to tell him. You’ll bring me up to date later if needed.” 

“Yes, love.”

Zach just watched his family, a small smile on his face. They were all under one roof, a little banged up, but alive. 

“You know, if you continue picking up strays you’ll be known as the MacDixon house of orphans.” 

“Oh, my,” Carol said, covering her mouth as if to stop herself from laughing. “I’m the old woman who lives in a shoe!” 

Both Murphy and Daryl cracked smiles, especially when Carol’s hand was unable to keep her giggles at bay. 

“You’re not old,” Daryl said softly, taking her hand and kissing it. 

“And we only have five, maybe six kids, so far …” Murphy added. “We would need to get … ten more?” 

“Oh, please no.” Her giggles were contagious and soon all of them were smiling and chuckling as well. “I have enough trying to wrangle you three into shape.”

“Zach … why do you give your mother so much grief?” Murphy asked the startled young man with a completely serious face. “You should try to behave better yourself, it’s unbecoming of a young man to act in such a way.”

“You’re terrible,” Carol sat still giggling as she stood up and went to take the tray Mika had set for Connor. “I’m going to see how your brother is doing. When I came back downstairs, I don’t want to see any of you in here… well, except Mika. She can stay.”

“You know, you shouldn’t play favorites.”

“I think someone is going to be sleeping on the couch tonight.”

“Love you, my dear. I’ll see you later.” 

Daryl was still laughing as she climbed up the stairs to see about Connor. The house was full and was probably going to stay that way for a while. Unless they kicked Rick out … although she doubted he would be willing to relocate without his kids. And she was not losing those two from her eyesight. Judy would end up on her watch either way, and Carl still needed a good reprimand once in a while. 

The door to the main bedroom was partially closed, allowing her to see Connor was still where she had left him earlier in the morning. The I.V line Rosita had started was still in his hand, a makeshift stand on the side of the bed with the last of the saline bags they had deemed expendable for him. 

“Hey,” Connor’s sleep gruff voice made Carol’s heart skip a beat. “What time is it?”

“Too early for you to try and get up.” They had come so close to losing him the night before, closer than any of them had liked to think about. Sure, Murphy had been shot before, but she was sure he hadn’t bled as much as Connor had. In a way, she understood the need her boys had felt of not letting anything close to her after they’d found her in Atlanta. The mere thought of anything harmful getting close to Connor caused her hackles to rise. “I brought you some breakfast.”

“Breakfast in bed? What did I do to get so lucky?” Connor was still pale, together with his rapid breathing after trying to sit up, just another reminder of the heavy blood loss he’d suffered the night before. 

“You married me.” Carol couldn’t help but feel the need to touch him, to make sure he was real and she wasn’t dreaming this perfect scenario. She had already thought him lost once, and - just like his brothers - she wasn’t sure she would be able to survive losing any of them. 

“I’m one lucky bastard, aren’t I?” 

“You know I hate it when you call yourself that,” Carol grumbled as she set the tray on her dresser, before moving to help him sit up. 

“But, love, technically -”

“You _are_ bastards. I know. Stop being a smartass about it.” She moved away as soon as she had helped him settle into a sitting position, barely getting away from his grabbing hands. 

“But you love my smart ass.” This time, once she had settled the tray over his lap when Connor made a grab for her, she allowed it. 

“It’s kind of meh.”

“Oh, is it?” Carol chuckled as she rolled her eyes when Connor turned his pleading eyes at her. “I really thought you at least liked it.” She knew what he wanted with just the look on his face, relenting with a roll of her eyes. 

“It has its moments.” Connor mock-frowned as he opened his mouth for Carol to put a bite of his breakfast in it. She knew he had at least one good arm to feed himself, but her Connor was usually the least needy of her boys … and in a way to be able to pamper him was a gift in itself. “I much prefer your abs, though.”

Murphy and Daryl couldn’t help but smile as they heard Connor’s laughter through the open window. 

“I guess he’s up,” Murphy said as he sat on the porch steps, watching as Daryl did something he had no idea of to his bike. “And he can’t be feeling too shitty if he’s laughing.”

“It’s Carol,” Daryl muttered, his tongue between his teeth as he tried to reach a small part inside the bike’s engine. Cursing when he touched a part too hot for comfort. “She has superpowers.”

Silence fell upon the brothers as Murphy was relegated to pass Daryl certain tools whenever the younger man asked. The mundane task, at least, gave him a chance to observe his brother as he worked. 

Daryl looked overall alright. He had told Carol he wasn’t bitten, nor seriously hurt, so at least he didn’t have to worry about those things at the moment. Something had happened though, something had shaken his brother to his foundations. He thought he was good at hiding it, but although they might have just met less than a year ago, Murphy was good at reading his brother. And something had definitely happened during the run, something Daryl was in no rush to talk to them about. 

“So … on a scale from one to ten, where one is you were safe all the time; and ten is you almost fucking died … what number would you give to your latest run?”

Daryl’s frown as he looked over his shoulder at him would have been funny if Murphy wasn’t already starting to get pissed. He couldn’t explain it - Connor would have probably called it more of their monozygotic bullshit - but Murphy just knew, it had been a closer call than Daryl wanted them to know. 

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You almost died. Didn’t you, asshole?” Murphy sneered, getting off the porch and approaching his brother. “You almost fucking kicked the bucket out there, and you don’t want us to know.”

“Shhhhh,” Daryl shushed him, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him down beside him at once. “I’ll tell you, but I don’t want Carol to hear right now. She already has too much to worry about.”

“And you think she won’t worry later when she finds out? Because you know she will!” 

“Shut up!” Daryl hissed. “Or I’m going to stuff this -” he showed Murphy the dirty cloth he carried with him at all times, “in your mouth. Shut the fuck up for once in your life!” Murphy glared at his brother as Daryl muttered the last part of the sentence, feeling the need to smack his younger brother in the head … hard. 

“Do not hit me, Murphy. Because I will hit back and Carol will be furious.” Murphy gritted his teeth as he huffed at his brother. He fucking hated when Daryl ended up being right. Carol would kill them if they caused some scene when she had specifically told them to lay low. 

“Then fucking tell me!”

“Alright!” Daryl said, exasperated, turning his full attention to his twin. “It got pretty bad. We probably wouldn’t have made it back if it hadn’t been for Morgan.”

“What happened? A herd?”

“A fucking trap.” Daryl sounded more tired than exasperated now. “Set up by the same people who have been carving letters on walkers' foreheads.”

“Like the one you and Carol found a week ago?”

Daryl nodded, making a face when he bit on the side of his thumb only to realize there was some bike oil on it. 

“Fuck,” Murphy breathed, putting a hand on Daryl’s back as if to assure himself his brother was really sitting next to him. 

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.”

“Yep.”

“And Morgan saved your ass?”

“He did.”

“Does Rick know this? Because he put Morgan in the house they used as a prison for Pete.” Murphy’s regards for the newcomer were rising fast. “And if he saved your life … we owe him big.”

Daryl shrugged, frowning and looking over his shoulder as he heard someone leaving the house. Zach and Mika had gone looking for Carl - and Ron - while Murphy and he had stayed in case Sam needed anything while Carol took care of Connor. 

Rick had come in not long before with a sleeping Judith, ready to drop her off for Carol to also take care of. Like their wife didn’t have enough on her plate already. But with Michonne taking over organizing the guard schedule, and Rick in talks all day with Deanna and Reg … it was up to them to take care of the youngest Grimes. 

“Is everything alright, Frankie?” Murphy asked as he got to his feet while Daryl continued to tinker with his bike. 

“Frankie?” Rick asked, a bewildered look on his face. “You know what, I don’t want to know. Daryl …” The look he gave Murphy told the middle MacDixon everything he wanted to know, Morgan had spilled the beans about the run to constable Grimes and Rick wasn’t sure if Daryl had already told them what had happened. 

“I know, he told me. You don’t have to look like I’m going to kick your ass just because you bring up that shitbrains here -” Murphy kicked Daryl softly making his brother grunt in annoyance, “was almost walker chow.”

“Morgan is staying where he is for the time being,” Rick said, running a hand over his face. 

“Is he okay with it? Because we owe him one, we can find him a place in the house …” Daryl said as he finally stood up, using his rag to wipe his hands clean. 

“It was his idea.” Rick sighed, looking away from the brothers towards the rest of the quiet community. “We have to be ready, those men … what they tried to do.”

“It was not only that,” Daryl murmured, looking at the asphalt to avoid his brother’s piercing gaze. “They are bloodthirsty, and if they were to find this place …”

“We need more watchpoints,” Rick agreed with what Daryl hadn’t said. “I’m also going to tell Deanna we don’t need to go out looking for more people.”

“Rick.”

“Do you feel differently about it?”

“I do.” 

Murphy tried not to let the smile threatening to blossom on his face appear as he watched Daryl keep unwavering eye contact with Rick as they spoke. It had been one of those things which annoyed him and Connor to no end back when they were at the prison. How easy it was for Daryl to always demur to Rick, even if he didn’t agree with what the other man wanted to say or do. It was great to see his little brother stand up for himself, on his own, for something he believed in. 

“Daryl,” Rick sighed, “the people out there, they’ve got to take care of themselves. Just like we did.”

“But that’s exactly the thing, man,” Daryl said, his hands moving as he spoke. “We didn’t do it alone. We accepted people in, and because of it we became stronger.”

“It’s too dangerous; we can’t trust anyone.”

“That’s fucking life, it isn’t like we could trust everyone even before all this.” Murphy just stood beside Daryl, nodding and trying not to grin as the two men argued. “All I’m saying is we need to continue being who we are. And we are the type of people who help others.”

“I will talk about it with Deanna,” Rick said, giving the brothers a solemn nod before taking a few steps back, a clear sign he wanted the conversation to be over. “I’m getting Morgan out, he shouldn’t have to stay in there any longer than necessary.”

“Offer him at least a warm meal at our place. I’m sure Carol will want to thank him in person after she hears he saved this asshole’s life.”

“Shut up.”

“You shut up.”

They were still bickering when Rick walked away, Daryl's words in mind. 

Rick knew in a way, Daryl was not willing to stop looking for people because of his brothers. Giving them an opportunity had been the best thing to ever happen to the youngest Dixon, and nothing Rick could ever say would make Daryl think otherwise. But times do change, and if the group Morgan told him about - these so-called wolves - was out there, setting up traps, hunting people? 

He was more than sure the best course of action wouldn’t be to go out there and become their prey. They had worked too hard for it to happen. They had survived too much to allow their good conscience to earn them a place in hell. 

If it came to it, Rick would just let Carol know what had happened. He was more than certain she would shut it down if she ever felt her husband was putting himself in danger just because he was so damned stubborn. If there was anyone who would be able to talk Daryl Dixon down it would be one Carol Dixon - MacManus. Or was she MacManus - Dixon? MacDixon?

As Rick approached the house they had settled Morgan in last night, his mind started drifting back to the matter at hand. The man who had saved him when he knew nothing, the man he had tried to convince to join him in his search for his family, the man he had again seen half-crazed almost a year ago … he was here, in Alexandria. About six hundred miles separated Virginia from Georgia, and yet Morgan had made it through. 

He had arrived at their gates, saving two of their own from an unthinkable fate. And Morgan had done it on his own. 

There was a lot of explaining and catching up they both needed to do. Hopefully this time around, both were in better mental states. He knew he had kind of lost it after Lori, and having time off from leading after their battle with the governor had been a good idea at the time. 

But Rick knew now, rest or at least being away from the middle of the fray wasn’t what he needed. He needed people who challenged him, people who didn’t accept his decisions just because he had made them. He needed his family, he needed Carl’s cheekiness, Michonne’s sassiness, Carol’s ballbusting, and the brothers' ass-kickings. And maybe, maybe he could add Morgan to the lineup. 

-.-.-.

“Hey, sweetheart.” Sam sighed, silently climbing onto the bed and burrowing himself against Carol’s side. “Are you hungry?” 

The boy just shook his head, not making any noises as he laid his head on Carol’s chest and closed his eyes. Connor raised his eyebrows while looking down at the limpet his wife had seemed to have grown in the last twenty-four hours. Carol’s face told him everything he needed to know. 

Sam was theirs now, and they took care of their own. Always. 

“You need to eat, lad,” Connor said softly. “There’s some fruit on my tray you can have.” Sam didn’t move though, he just sighed as he played with the hem of Carol’s shirt. 

The sadness and pain were palpable in the room, brought by the boy’s entrance. And in a way, Connor couldn’t help but feel partly guilty over Jessie’s death. Pete was better off dead, especially after trying - twice - to harm his wife. But Jessie? She had been one of the people they had been trying to help. It hadn’t all been because of Sam, it had been because of her as well. 

Ron could drop dead for all Connor cared … but he hated to see the little boy in their bed as destroyed as he was. 

The sound of Sam’s sniffles broke the comfortable silence which had fallen upon them, the boy’s hitched breathing causing Carol’s eyes to fill with tears. 

“How do you feel about taking a shower, Sammy?” Carol asked softly, trying in a way to get the boy’s mind out of his current conundrum. 

“Are they going to burn my parents? Like the walkers?” 

“No,” Connor answered before Carol could. “Your mama is getting a grave, a place where you can go visit her whenever you want to talk to her.” 

“And my dad?”

Connor really wanted to say _fuck him,_ but he didn’t, just because he knew it would displease his lovely wife. But it didn’t mean he was going to lie to the boy, though. “I don’t know, laddie.” Sam had moved so he was sitting cross-legged beside Carol’s legs, looking at them. “They might not want to put him to rest in the same place as your mum.”

“Because he killed her.”

Carol had suddenly tensed up beside him, and he just knew. He knew Carol wasn’t up to having that particular conversation with Sam; the subject hitting too close to home. 

“Yes.” 

Connor had never been one to mind his words, and he wasn’t going to start lying to their newest addition. Sam needed stability and people who were upfront with him. He had gone through too much for them to hide how harsh the real world was. In fact, they didn’t need to hide it from him because he had lived it already. Just like Sophia, Mika, and Zach had already lived it as well. 

“And because he was an asshole who enjoyed hurting people who he thought weaker than him. Your mum, Carol, your brother - ”

“Me.”

“Yes. He doesn’t deserve to be in the same place where your mummy is going to rest.” Even Connor, who was usually less prone to crying than his siblings felt his eyes start to sting with the tell-tale signs of the coming waterworks. 

Sam gave them a solemn nod, taking a deep breath before crawling his way towards the foot of the bed. “I’m going to take a shower. Carol?”

“Yes, Sammy?”

“I think I’m almost out of clean clothes.”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. We’ll see about it later, alright?”

Sam nodded, sharing a look with Connor before turning on his heel and leaving the room. The door left wide open after his prompt exit. 

“Fuck my life, poor kid,” Connor murmured, allowing himself a few tears as he hid his face against Carol’s shoulder. Sam was gone now, so he was letting his wife see how much the boy’s heartbreak was truly affecting him.

“You did great, Con.”

“Fuck,” Connor whispered, trying to calm down his own breathing as he felt it speed up. He wasn’t allowed to lose it; he wasn’t going to give Carol yet another reason to worry. She had enough as it was. “I’m alright. All good,” he answered the unasked question. 

“I know you are, babe.” The feel of his wife’s lips against his hair allowed him the comfort he needed. They all had gone through loss and pain, but somehow Sam’s felt different. It was the pain of an innocent, a soul who hadn’t been touched by the world they were currently living. Even Mika, losing her father and sister, hadn’t been as innocent as it felt like Sammy was. “He will be alright. It’s going to take time, and it’s going to be hard work, but he has us now, and we’re going to help him survive.”

Survival of the fittest, that’s what they used to call it. And sadly it was exactly what it was. The strongest, the most cunning, the smartest, and the ruthless, were the ones who survive nowadays. The secret was to become all those things, but without ceasing to be a good person. A feat in itself. One Connor knew was of vital importance to his wife. 

The moment those kids entered her life, they’d become part of her. She had already lost two of them, Sophia - the one which had fractured her soul - and Lizzie. They all had vowed not to allow any others to fall victim to this world’s circumstances. Sam was going to become a survivor, just like they all were. 

And as much as he loathed the teenager, Connor just knew Carol would take him into her heart if he allowed her to do so. Ron was a twat, so it was doubtful it would come to that … but they would be ready if it did. 

“They should be done digging the graves soon,” Carol said softly, looking out their window, her eyes lost in the clear blue sky. “It’s going to be hard.”

“We’ll be there for him, love. He’ll know he has us on his side from now on.”

“Well … not you. You’re staying in this bed until I say you’re free to leave.”

“But, Caroooool.”

“Whine away, Cookie, but you’re staying in here for the foreseeable future.”

“This is bullshit.”

“What do you want? To promise you’re going to stay put and not open those stitches?” Carol couldn’t help but giggle like a schoolgirl at the look on her husband’s face. “I’m game as long as it won’t cause you to bleed all over yourself.”

“Oh, love. You have no idea what you just got yourself into.”

“Just try me.”

-.-.-

The service had been as difficult as they all had expected it to be. 

It had all started with Sammy freaking out at home because he wanted to look his best, remembering his mom had put him in his Sunday best when his grandmother had passed away the year before. Daryl and Murphy had hightailed it out of there, and to the Anderson’s former home when he boy had started to cry … coming back with anything he could need for the time being. 

Then Mika had remembered the crosses they used to have at the prison as grave markers, ending up with Daryl finding two pieces of wood from God knows where so they could make a cross for Jessie’s grave. 

Ron being MIA didn’t help Carol’s mood at all. Sam had just looked even more depressed when he realized his brother - who he hadn’t seen since the day before - was still unaccounted for. The teenager was in need of a good ear pulling if anyone were to ask her. 

The straw which had almost broken the camel's back was the standoff between Murphy and Gabriel when they arrived to see the former preacher standing ready to lead the service. Deanna had politely told Gabriel off, allowing Murphy to lead the prayers avoiding a confrontation - and possible physical fight - and letting everyone know Gabriel’s accusations were unfounded with just saying a few words. 

Gabriel seemed to have stopped at least trying to murder them with his eyes, so there had been some acceptable developments lately. 

Murphy had made use of his ease with words to bring almost everyone to tears. Sammy had stayed between Carol and Mika - one hand clutching each - as silent tears cascaded down his cheeks. Even Daryl, as stoic as he usually presented himself towards the others, broke down and carried the boy in his arms away from the gravesite after it was all over. 

And then Rick had come back. And hell was threatening to break loose. 

“This was against my will, love. I don’t think it can be considered a breach of contract,” Connor snarked as Murphy pushed him down the street in a wheelchair. “I was willing to stay in bed, just as you’d ordered. But I was called away and it is my sacred duty as your husband - and as the eldest of my siblings - to respond to our leader’s call.” 

“Shut up, you just said you were thankful I was breaking you out of there.” Murphy snorted when Connor glared at him over his shoulder. “I’m the driver here, if you hit me I can just let go.” There was a slight incline to the street, and Connor winced at imagining the speed the wheelchair could achieve. 

“You wouldn’t.” At Murphy’s silence, Connor sighed. “You would.”

“Yep.”

“I hate you.”

“And I love you both, so please just keep quiet and don’t make a scene.”

“Yes, love.”

“You need to teach me how to do that,” Michonne said, trying to hide a smile as Daryl started helping Connor out of the chair while Murphy kept it steady. “You must have magic powers to be able to shut up these three at once.”

“Michonne, dear,” Connor said, slapping Daryl’s hand away as he tried to help him up a small step. “We don’t kiss and tell. Her magic powers are for our enjoyment only.”

“Pig.”

“I might be, but I’m her pig.” 

Carol just shook her head, scoffing at Michonne as Murphy and Daryl hurried behind Connor. They were somehow fussing over their eldest brother without really noticing they were doing it. 

“Darling, please hurry. I saved you a seat!”

“Honestly, Carol,” Michonne murmured as they climbed up the stairs leading to Deanna and Reg’s house. “I don’t know why you put up with him.”

“He has a big cock.”

Michonne blushed when everyone’s eyes turned to her, her snort having been heard all the way to the back of the house. With a last cheeky smile, Carol’s Alexandrian persona took over and her fake smile came to light. 

It was creepy to see if you weren’t used to it. And even if they knew what she was doing, the fact that everyone thought she was the person she pretended to be … it was both undeniably hot and incredibly scary. 

“Stop looking at my wife like that,” Murphy murmured from the side of his mouth to Michonne as the woman moved to stand beside him. Carol had taken her place on the arm of the couch closest to Connor’s chair, the oldest MacDixon immediately reaching for her hand. 

“Like what?” People were still filing in, most of the grown-up population of the community choosing to show up to hear Rick speak. The message had spread fast, using the kids as carriers. The turn out being higher than the one for the meeting the night before. 

“Like you don’t know if you want to snog her, or run away from her.”

“I do not!”

“Do you have a crush on my wife, Mich?” 

Michonne rolled her eyes, her eyes finding Rick involuntarily. “I don’t.”

The conspiratorial smile he shared with his wife went unnoticed by everyone but them. Rick, clearing his throat, shushed the entire room, and Murphy hurried to get across the room, sitting at Daryl’s feet on the window bench. The need to be close to his brothers - especially after what had happened to both of them not so long ago - was too strong not to follow. The seat also gave both brothers a perfect view of their wife and their remaining third. 

“As some of you may know, Rick and our new arrival - Morgan …” The man lowered his head as he felt everyone turn to look at him as Deanna spoke. “Went outside today for a ... let’s say … special task.” Carol winced at the words used, giving Connor a small smile as he squeezed her hand softly. “They found some things of concern to all of us, and he’s here to let us know all about it.”

“Thank you, Deanna.”

Murphy could feel Daryl’s leg solid against his back, a constant reminder they were alright. They were safe, and they had to fight to keep their family that way. Even before Rick explained what was going on, there was just something in his gut telling Murphy he wasn’t going to like what was about to be said. 

He was right. 

“When you say there’s a quarry full of walkers …” Connor asked frowning. “How full is full?”

“Probably a couple of thousand?” Rick said, looking at Morgan for confirmation. “Maybe more?”

“Fuck.”

“Basically.”

“But they’re stuck there, right?” One of the Alexandrians - whose name Murphy had no interest in learning - asked clear panic in his face. “That’s good for us, right?”

“No.” Even Murphy, who enjoyed annoying Rick to no end, felt bad for their ‘leader’, both the worry and exasperation of dealing with people who had zero survival skills in their current world taking its toll on the other man. “The more walkers which accumulate, the bigger the threat to us all.”

“Does anyone - “ Deanna interrupted before Rick made way into one of his rants. Their official leader starting to know Alexandria’s constable, “have any information about the quarry Rick is talking about?”

As the guy who had arrived earlier in the morning - Heath - started explaining what they had known about the quarry, the bad feeling in the pit of Murphy’s stomach started to grow. It sounded simple enough, but it absolutely never was. 

There was always a catch. Always. And it didn’t take long for them to learn what it was. 

“What I’m proposing, I know the mere idea sounds risky, but walkers are already slipping through the exits. One of the trucks keeping the walkers in, it could go off the edge any day now … could be after one more hard rain. And that exit … sends them east. All of them.” 

“It sends them to us.” Rick nodded solemnly at Connor’s words. 

“Right at us. This isn’t about if … it’s about when.” The people of Alexandria kept looking at each other, matching expressions of terror on their faces. It was easy to see who was part of their family right then. Because even if people like Aaron, Deanna, Eric, and Reg, were nodding along and looking ready to follow Rick; only those who had lived through what a herd could do - especially a herd that size - had the knowledge to respect the situation they had found themselves in. “It is going to happen, that’s why we need to do this soon.”

“The mere idea,” Carol said as Rick looked expectantly at everyone in the room. “Of something as big as that herd coming our way … it’s terrifying.” Carol looked down at Connor, her face full of fake terror. “Rick … “ her voice broke, as tears appeared in her eyes. “Please tell me you have an idea to divert them away from us? I can’t have the kids-” 

Even if Daryl and Murphy knew they were probably fake tears, to watch Carol break down in Connor’s arms was causing their own chests to ache. Even Rick seemed shaken by her performance. 

“I do,” Rick answered, taking a moment to swallow before continuing. “I told Deanna already … the plan will use Daryl’s new bike, he will draw them away. Guiding them until they are far enough away, so there’s no way they could turn around and double back.” 

Daryl’s eyes met Carol’s across the room, seeing for the first time since they’d gotten to the meeting real fear in them. He might not have told her yet what he and Aaron had gone through, but she knew. Carol knew it had been a close call; not only with Connor getting shot but with him almost not coming back. 

“He’s not doing it alone,” Sasha spoke up, startling Daryl out of his staring. “I’m gonna go with him, get the stranglers.”

“You’re going to need another vehicle, lady,” Murphy responded, a hand settling on Daryl’s knee. “If anyone is riding bitch with my brother, that’s me.”

“Then I’ll go with Sasha,” Abraham interrupted before Murphy could continue his rant. “We’ll take a car. We can lead them, Lucky Charms and Huck Finn can keep them from getting sloppy.”

Rick nodded, shying away from the heated look he knew he would be receiving from Carol. His plan was well-formed, but he knew he should have let them know beforehand. Especially when he’d hoped both brothers would jump at the chance of leading the walkers away. They - Murphy and Daryl - were incredibly reliable when it came to putting themselves between their family and danger. 

And Rick had known this, and he had knowingly used it for his advantage. Carol was too intelligent not to have caught on to his plan; he knew there was going to be hell to pay.

“So, we’ll have those two teams.” Rick wondered if he was about to catch on fire, as he felt Carol’s eyes shooting lasers at him. “And another two teams, one on each side of the woods to help us manage this whole thing.”

“But there must be another way.” 

Murphy rolled his eyes as the same panicked Alexandrian from before started trying to bargain with Rick. His attention was drawn to the morose mood his brother had suddenly fallen into. 

“You look like a walker ate Snake,” Murphy murmured under his breath, as he continued to pretend to be listening to whatever the people around them were saying. “Cheer the fuck up, brother.”

“Carol’s afraid,” Daryl answered, moving so he was sitting up properly. Their shoulders close together. “I hate it.”

There was truth in his words, especially in the look Carol was giving Rick when none of the Alexandrians were able to see her. The constable would have dropped dead long ago if looks could indeed kill. It had been a shitty thing to do on Rick’s part though, they all knew there was nothing Daryl wouldn’t do to keep his family safe. 

Doing this? Leading the walkers away from them? It was a clear way of keeping them - Carol, Mika, Sam, Judy, and Carl - well away from that particular danger. In Daryl’s head they would always come first, and in any of theirs if they were being honest. Daryl was just more idiotic when it came to being self-sacrificing. He had not yet done something like Connor - jumping down from a fifth-floor - but Murphy was sure he only needed time. Time until Daryl did something even more incredibly irresponsible. 

At least they had Carol around now. Maybe his need to sacrifice himself for the greater good would be contained knowing there was no greater good than coming home to their wife. 

“There’s got to be another way.” Murphy sighed, rubbing a hand over his face when he realized it was again the same guy who kept fighting Rick’s plan. “We can’t control that many.”

“I’ve said it before. Walkers herd up, they will follow a path if something is drawing them on. That’s how we can get them all at once.”

“And we’re just supposed to take your word for it? We’re just supposed to all fall in line after you ... “

“After I what?” Murphy could feel Daryl tensing up beside him, his hand finding his brother’s knee once more. He felt it, too, the need to grab every man and women inside that room and shake them until they understood. Until they got it. 

“After you murdered one of our own in front of everyone here. After you shot a man in cold blood in front of his own son.”

“Carter, that’s enough!” Deanna deemed reasonable for her to cut in. “Rick only did what I ordered him to do.”

“And we’re supposed to just accept it? They haven’t been here long and you’re already taking their word over everyone else's.”

“I’ll do it!” Heath interrupted, raising his hand, pushing past Carter so he could look Rick in the face. 

“Me too,” Francine joined in. 

“Whatever you need,” Tobin said softly to Rick from where he was standing right beside him. “I’m in!”

“Who else?” Deanna asked from the room at large. 

Several people around them softly joined in, and Murphy couldn’t help but snort when he saw Carol slapping Connor’s hand down when he made to try and raise it. His brother would hate to be left behind this time around, but he was not going to be ready by the time everything went down. 

“It’s going to be me and you, Decks. Just me and you.”

“We’ll make this work. We’ll keep this community and our families safe.”

“The plan,” Carter interrupted again before Rick could continue. “Run through it again.”

“Man, he just said it,” Daryl growled, glaring at the man standing close to them. The tension had not left his brother since he had noticed Carol’s change in mood, and Murphy didn’t expect it to change until they had time to smooth things over with their wife. 

“Go through it again, every single part.”

The low growl emanating from Daryl’s chest was strong enough to make Murphy clamp down his hand even harder on his brother’s knee, feeling a little bad when Daryl flinched in response. They couldn’t pick a fight with their people right now, they needed their support and apparently, fistfights were not a great way to get to know your neighbors. Who would have known, right?

“The exact plan.”

-.-.

“Carol,” Daryl mumbled as he trotted to try and catch up to his wife. The moment Rick had called the meeting adjourned, Carol had told Murphy and him to help Connor home and had sprinted out of the room. 

Daryl hadn’t even waited to see if someone was going to help Connor home, he just knew his wife was hurting and he was not going to just let it happen. He could hear Murphy hurrying behind him, the two of them already feeling guilty over the worry they knew their wife must be already immersed in. 

They couldn’t lose her, so they knew she felt the exact same way. 

“Carol, sweetheart.” He hated that he wasn’t allowed to just catch up to her, wrap his arms around her waist, and pull her to him. People were lingering around the community, and there was still a reputation to maintain. 

Even if it meant he had basically run the whole way back to their home at his wife’s heels. 

“How the fuck can she walk this fast?” Murphy asked, panting as they both saw her climb up the steps to their porch and slam the front door behind her. They could hear her calling for the kids inside their home, her voice steady and full of love as she spoke to them. The sound of the kids giggling before running out to the backyard door one which was unmistakable. “Do you reckon it’s safe to go in?”

Daryl shrugged, thumb going towards his mouth before it was slapped away forcefully by his brother. He had to take a deep breath, trying not to start something with his identical twin, especially something they had no time to follow through. Carol needed them, and she needed them now. 

“She’s scared,” Daryl said softly, taking a deep breath before starting to climb up the front stairs. “She’s pissed at Rick for not saying anything before.”

“He should have,” Murphy muttered, following close on his heels. “I mean, he knew Carol would have probably killed him either way for putting us in danger.”

There was a feeling Daryl had learned to identify as love, blooming in his chest as he heard Murphy’s words. He’d never had that before Carol, never before had he had someone on his side, someone looking out - truly looking out, not a half-assed thing like Merle - for him. Someone always in his corner. 

His wife was exactly that for him. 

They both stopped at the base of the stairs, listening as Carol stomped her way around the first floor. Doors opening and being slammed closed could be heard above them, a clear sign of how upset their wife truly was. Rick’s plan wasn’t a bad one if they were honest, but it was going to be incredibly dangerous. And incredibly dangerous translated with having an upset wife. 

The last thing any of them would ever want to do was upset Carol. Carol who loved them unconditionally and who had already gone through so much. But because of the same love, she knew who they were … and she knew they would throw themselves into a herd if it meant the rest of them would be safe. 

And that’s why Rick’s plan was playing into her worst nightmare. 

With a roll of his eyes, Daryl pushed past Murphy to climb up the stairs. He knew his brother was close behind, using him as a shield in case Carol was more upset with them than they had been expecting. They just hoped the anger was directed at the real culprit … Richard Grimes. 

“Carol?” Daryl asked softly, wedging his body between their partially open door and the frame. “We just -”

“You!” Carol growled, grabbing him by the lapels of his beat-up button-up and pulling him inside. “You!”

“I didn’t know what he -” Daryl’s words were silenced by Carol’s mouth on his. Without meaning to, he staggered back, his back slamming into the wall beside the now open doorway. He could feel Carol’s body perfectly molded against his front, her knee having found its way between his legs pushing deliciously against his crotch. “Carol?” He wasn’t sure he even had enough blood in his brain to word anything other than her name. 

“I’m so angry!” Carol growled against his lips, biting his lower lip hard enough for it to hurt. He could feel her nails pressing against his chest, causing his remaining blood to fly away from his brain. “What right does he think he has?!” she growled against his lips, one of her hands having made its way to his newly trimmed hair. 

“No right,” Murphy answered from where he was standing at the door, a look of lust on his face as Carol glared at him. “He had no right to not have said something beforehand.”

Carol’s breathing was labored, as she took a step back, her jaw setting as she pushed her nails into the skin of Daryl’s chest again. The mewl escaping Daryl’s throat making her bite her lips in want. 

“Close the door, Malachy.”

Daryl didn’t get a chance to see if his brother followed through with the order, suddenly having Carol ravaging his mouth once more. Her tongue pushing forcefully against his lips, asking for permission and finding him ready for her. Her small delicate hands made fast work of getting him out of his clothes. 

“You’re mine,” Carol growled against Daryl’s neck, feeling him shudder as she bit softly under his jaw, while her nails marked his sides. “You’re going to come back to me.”

“Always.” 

“You’re not going to do something stupid.” Daryl hadn’t even realized she had somehow moved him, too lost in his heated daze to pay attention to where he was. 

“I won’t,” he whispered as he was pushed to sit on the lone chair by the wall he had been ravished against. “I won’t.”

“Promise me,” Carol growled, grabbing his jaw and forcing Daryl to make eye contact with her. Her eyes were fire, bright as the sun, and for a moment Daryl wondered if he would be blinded by their power. “Promise me!”

Carol had taken care of both of their clothes as she had distracted him with her kisses, climbing onto his lap with her feet planted on the floor. His engorged cock trapped between them, precum already making a mess on their naked bodies. 

“I do,” Daryl breathed as she took his lower lip between her teeth. “I do, I promise.”

Later Daryl would swear he had seen stars as Carol lowered herself onto his cock. The only sound escaping him was her moaned name. It didn’t take him long to come, Carol’s pace unrelenting as she used the leverage of her feet against the floor for her advantage. The chair crackling with every pump of Carol’s hips against his. 

He hadn’t even had a chance to let her know he was coming. Her name on his lips raised as a prayer as he felt her rip an orgasm from him. His eyes were still closed when he felt her being taken from him, the sensation of his cock leaving her making him whimper in need. 

“Are you going to make me beg, love?” Murphy asked as he stood behind Carol. His arms were around her middle, as she struggled against him. “Do you want to own me, just like you did with Declan?” 

Daryl’s eyes ran lazily up and down Carol’s body. His cum was freely spilling down her legs, her chest was rising and falling rapidly as she grunted when she tried again to free herself from Murphy’s hold. 

“I already own you, Malachy,” Carol growled, turning her head to bite Murphy’s neck. His legs threatened to give out on him, the feeling of her teeth clamping down on his skin strong enough to break it, making him dizzy. “You’re mine.”

“Says who?” Murphy knew he was playing with fire, but he was more than ready. To see his precious Carol manhandle his sweet brother had gotten him harder than he had been in a long time. He had used the opportunity to get rid of his own clothes as he had watched the spectacle before him. 

“I do.”

An elbow to his stomach. He hadn’t been expecting her to use one of the tricks they had taught her what seemed like ages ago - at the prison - to get out of his grip. His breath leaving him allowed her enough leverage to turn around and push him onto their bed, before mounting him like she owned him. 

No complaints were made as she lowered herself onto his cock, taking his hands in hers and pushing them over his head as she rode him fast and hard. Harder than she had done to his brother, knowing Murphy’s pleasures laid more on the painful side. 

“You’re mine,” Carol growled against his lips, before pushing hers against him in an open-mouthed kiss. “Mine to do with what I want.”

“Yes.”

“Say it.”

“I’m yours.”

“Good.”

Daryl sneaking his hand to touch her clit finally triggered her orgasm, taking Murphy down with her. Daryl just hummed against her head as he felt her back arch against his chest, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the pleasure her boys had brought to her. 

“Feeling better?” Daryl asked softly against her ear, as he helped her basically dismount his brother; moving to lay her nestled between the two of them. 

“Hmmm.”

“Are you still going to kill someone over the stupid plan?” Daryl asked just before a yawn escaped him. 

“Maybe … but just Rick.”

“So, we’re safe now?” Murphy smirked, half-lidded eyes looking playfully at her. “You’ve forgiven us?”

“I was never mad at you,” Carol grumbled, tucking Daryl’s arm under her chin. “I was just -”

“Worried.” Carol chuckled when both of them interrupted her at the same time. 

“I am worried, but I know you will try your best to come back to me.”

“Always,” Daryl mumbled against her silver hair. 

“Rick’s not getting out of this unscathed, is he?” Murphy asked as he closed his eyes, one of his arms thrown over both Carol and his brother, as he snuggled down to push his forehead against his wife’s. 

“Just you wait.”

Neither of them noticed when she slipped from bed an hour into their after sex naps to throw all of Rick’s new clothes out of his window right into the mud puddle she had apparently ordered the kids to make when she had first come into their home. 

Their only clue was when Rick had thrown open their door to yell at them about their crazy wife. His intrusion had been met with a lamp thrown his way. Maybe he would learn never to put a MacDixon in danger without first talking to the rest of them … but knowing Rick? It was going to take more than a close call with a lamp to get it through his thick head. 

They had no complaints if they were honest. Only next time, maybe they would have to allow Connor in on the fun. Just maybe, though. 

-.-.-. 

“Everyone is going to know you got laid if you keep smiling,” Michonne murmured to Daryl as they took a moment to regain their breath before continuing with their jobs. Daryl just frowned at her, the slight curve upwards of his lips still there. “Stop it! It’s weird,” she hissed. 

Murphy laughed, slapping his brother’s back fondly just before throwing his arm around his shoulders and bringing him close by the neck. “That’s cause we did, my friend. And it was glorious.”

“Murph,” Daryl growled, shaking his brother’s arm off of him and stomping away, ears already reddening. 

“You’re mean.”

“Who started teasing him in the first place?”

“I was just saying, if the people around here notice how smiley he is today, they’re going to start approaching him.”

“Oh, no! They wouldn’t dare!” 

Michonne snorted, shaking her head as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. “All I’m saying is … if he gets into a fistfight because someone dared to try and touch him …”

Murphy snorted, making a head motion towards where Daryl was skulking carrying a wheelbarrow full of soil. “Just watch.”

They both looked as Carol appeared seemingly out of nowhere to run interference just as one naive Alexandrian tried to approach her grumpy husband, being able to diffuse the situation with an easy smile and a wave of her hand. 

“Carol Dixon-MacManus, always ready to save the day.” 

“Heart eyes, Michonne … all I see when you look at my wife are heart eyes.” Murphy tried not to burst into giggles when Michonne pushed him hard enough to send him sprawling into the soft ground, a cloud of powder-like soil rising around him. 

“What just happened here?” Carol asked, frowning as she looked down at the now even dirtier Irishman. 

“I’m just so clumsy, love,” Murphy answered right away, taking the hand she was offering and pulling himself up. “You know me, I didn’t see a root and ended up on my arse.”

“But what a fine arse it is, isn’t it?”

Michonne’s snort made the two of them finally remember they weren’t truly alone. “You two are incredible.”

“I think you aren’t exactly meaning it in a good way, is she, love?” Murphy asked as he threw an arm around Carol’s shoulders, a grin on his face as he looked at their friend. “I think she’s just mocking you.”

“Maybe she’s just mocking _you_ , Muffin,” Carol answered as she hunched her shoulders and moved away from under his sweaty arm. “Sometimes even I can’t believe you’re real.”

“But in a good way, right, love?”

Carol shrugged, winking at Michonne as she started walking away. 

“Carol, c’mon! In a good way, right?” Carol just smiled before turning on her heels and rushing to grab a couple of paper cups to take one to Rick. 

“She’s a miracle worker,” Michonne murmured as the two of them watched as she again diffused another tense situation. Whatever Daryl had told Rick, it was something their leader was having a hard time processing. “How is she really doing?”

“She’s handling it.” Together they watched her shoulders tense, as Morgan approached her directly for the first time. “She’s trying to put up a front for the kids, mostly for Sammy.”

“But you guys are taking care of her?”

“Why, Mich? Because if we aren’t you’re going to offer to take our place?” Murphy was ready this time around for her shove, pushing back with his own shoulder as she pushed with hers; almost sending her down this time around. 

“Shut up.”

“I’ll stop teasing you when you do something about Deputy asshole.”

“I’m telling Carol if you don’t stop bothering me.”

“Low blow, Michonne. Low blow.”

-.-..--.-.

“So you’re telling me Rick Fucking Grimes didn’t lose his shit and blow Carter’s brains all over the pantry?” Connor asked shocked as he looked from Carol who was sitting beside him on their bed, to Daryl who was straddling their lone chair just as Murphy tried to steal some of Connor’s dinner. “He saw him pointing a gun to Eugene’s head and he didn’t lose his shit?”

“I thought he was gonna,” Daryl stated. “I thought we were going to have to run interference again like at the prison … but he didn’t.”

“He kept his shit together … even offered Carter the chance to work with us again.” Connor slapped Murphy’s hand harder than he needed to as his brother spoke while reaching for more of Connor’s food at the same time. “I was strangely proud, if I may add.”

“I feel the need to defend Rick for some strange reason.” Three pairs of eyes turned to Carol with an incredulous look in them. “But I’m not going to …”

“The asshole wouldn’t deserve one sweet word from your luscious mouth, love.”

Carol blushed mildly as she reached and pecked Connor on the cheek. 

“You’re sweet.”

“And injured.”

“Don’t overplay it.”

“Yes, love.”

-.-.-.-.

“Papa, please take care.” Daryl couldn’t help but feel as if his chest was going to burst as Mika hugged him tightly as they were saying their goodbyes before Zach, Murphy, and he went off with Rick and the others to do the ‘dry run’ for their little endeavor the next day.

“We’re just doing a trial run, sweetheart,” Murphy answered for his brother, tugging at Mika’s hair softly and pulling her into a hug as soon as she left Daryl’s arms. “We’re gonna be back just in time for the amazing dinner your mama is gonna make for us tonight.”

“I agree with Mika, though,” Carol added as she moved to kiss Daryl softly. “Please be careful out there, and don’t take unnecessary risks …” Carol gave the three of them - Zach, Murphy, and Daryl - a look. “And that’s an order.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t be dicks and get back here in one fucking piece,” Connor groaned as he moved to sit on one of the kitchen stools with the help of both Carl and Sammy. “Or else.”

“Or else what, you bag of-”

“Murphy.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say!” Murphy complained, an impish smile on his face. 

Carol couldn’t contain her smile, letting him pull her close for his goodbye kiss. “Please come back to me.”

“As long as I have life in me, I will always come back,” Murphy murmured only for her before moving to kiss her softly one more time. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

“I love you, Mama,” Zach said softly as he pulled Carol into a hug. “I’ll keep an eye out for Papa Bear, and for Murphy.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

“I love you,” Daryl said, his voice clear and for everyone to hear as he rested his forehead against her while Zach and Murphy waited by the door. “I love you and we’ll see you tonight.”

“Love you, too, assholes!” Connor yelled after his brothers as the two of them in perfect sync gave him the finger before leaving their house and making their way towards the town entrance. The trial run was today, the main event tomorrow. 

Nothing could go wrong, right?

-.-.-.

“You’re in Glenn’s group.”

Zach nodded, looking around the group of terrified Alexandrians as Rick continued his spiel. “I’m good with that, it’s us and who else?”

“When I mean you’re in Glenn’s group, I mean you’re to stay with him at all fucking times,” Murphy murmured as he and Daryl kept their kid between them. “I don’t care who else is in the group, you follow Glenn’s orders and you do as he says.”

“Murph …”

“We know you’re capable, but he’s better … so just-”

“For all of our peace of mind, and so your mother doesn’t flay us for letting something happen to you, stay with Glenn at all times.”

Zach sighed, rolling his eyes before going back to paying attention to what Rick was explaining to them all. He understood from where it was coming from, they were scared of losing him - just like he was scared of losing them. He was immensely glad Carol’s ruse was still holding, he would rather have his badass mother behind the walls of Alexandria than out here with them. Even if he knew they would all be a lot safer with her with them. 

She was safe. She was helping keep his little siblings safe … that was all that mattered. 

“You are really gonna ride bitch all the way to the end zone?” Zach heard Daryl mutter to Murphy as they all started to move slowly towards the quarry after Rick finished explaining about the miracle miles. 

“As if I’m going to let you do any more crazy bullshit alone, dear brother?” Murphy answered pushing past Zach and throwing an arm around Daryl’s shoulders. “I would rather ride bitch than let you out there on your own. Deal with it.”

Zach smirked as he caught Daryl trying to hide a smile as he pushed his brother off. They were all coming home. They were all doing this and going home to Carol and the little kids. There was no other way. 

-.-.-.

Things went south … and fast. 

One moment they were hearing Rick give them all the rundown of what was going to happen the next day, how Murphy, Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha were going to lead the walkers away as the rest of them did their parts … and the next moment Murphy was pulling Zach quick to kiss the top of his head, before sending him Glenn’s way while he ran to catch up to his brother who was ready to leave him behind. 

No one ever said being a MacDixon was easy. 

As Zach ran from the quarry, following Glenn as he had been ordered to do, he sent out a prayer. A prayer for their safe return home, he really didn’t want to face his mother’s wrath if any of them didn’t. 

-.-.-.

“I don’t know if this is fucking boring, or I’m getting too used to this bullshit,” Murphy muttered as he jumped from the back of Daryl’s bike to kill a couple of walkers who were starting to get too close for comfort before running and jumping back into his place. 

“Gonna tell Carol you did that,” Daryl muttered, revving the bike’s motor to keep the wandering walkers following them. 

“Doesn’t count as crazy if it’s part of the job.”

“Does too.”

“Aren’t you at least happy you get a companion now? You don’t have to spend all this time with just your thoughts and yourself as company.”

“You say that as if it was something bad.”

Daryl shook his head just as Murphy kept on chattering behind him. Truth be told, he was happy his brother was with him; to have the backup of someone he trusted completely was not something to take for granted. They were doing what they had been assigned, they were leading the biggest part of the pack hoping for everyone else to be doing just as well. 

The silence from the radio at his hip was their lifeline at the moment. As long as Rick didn’t say otherwise they were to follow the plan, hoping and praying things were going alright their way. He was glad he had his brother with him. 

“The kid better follow orders and stick with Glenn,” Murphy muttered after a moment of silence. “If not, I’m letting Mika loose on him.”

Daryl snorted, his shoulders shaking with laughter even as the moans from the walkers behind them continued to follow them closely. He was definitely glad his brother was with him. 

“And the party just got bigger.”

They had finally caught up with Abraham and Sasha. They were on their way to the end zone. Just eighteen miles longer, some more miles and they were all going to be alright. 

-.-.-.

It wasn’t anything they weren’t used to. Even with a newbie as Heath was, the walkers in the tractor store weren’t anything Glenn and himself had not met before. 

Zach shared a small smile with Glenn before they ran into the woods. One obstacle less for them, now they only had to keep the walkers on track. Easier said than done. 

-.-.-.

Rick calling Carter’s death didn’t really come as a surprise for either brother. 

“I don’t like saying someone had it coming, but-”

“The prick had no idea what the fuck to do in this world,” Daryl finished Murphy’s statement, to which his twin only nodded in agreement. “Can’t believe he had the guts to point a gun at Eugene’s head. Eugene!” 

Daryl scoffed, revving the bike’s motor once again. Sasha and Abraham were a few feet behind them. Their car old enough to be noisy enough to get the attention of the walkers around them. 

“That crazy son of a bitch,” Murphy muttered as he saw Abraham jump from the car to kill walkers which had strayed. 

“Like you didn’t do that just a few minutes ago.”

“It was not the same.”

“Let’s let Carol be the one who decides that.”

“Fuck yo-”

The sound of a loud horn coming from the general direction of Alexandria made their hearts stop for a moment. 

“Fuck.”


	2. Chapter 2 - JSS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for your encouragement and for your support. I wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for all of you. ILYSM

**Chapter 2**

**JSS**

Being a homemaker after everything they had gone through, from her life with Ed to having the dead walking again, was a very bizarre experience. There was a part of Carol who had missed it, she was not going to lie. She had loved being a mom, and she loved taking care of people … when she had lost Sophia, it was a part of herself she had thought lost forever. 

And even though her kids nowadays would never replace Sophia, a small part of the emptiness left behind by her loss had been filled. And the part which hadn’t been Sophia’s, the part of herself she thought Ed had broken, was filled to the brim by the love of the three most amazing men she had ever known. 

One of which was being an ass and was refusing to go to his checkup with doctor Denise at the current moment. 

“I told you, love, I’m alright. Good as new.”

“Connor.”

“I swear, it doesn’t even hurt.”

“Connor.”

“I don’t even know why you didn’t let me join my brothers today in the dry run. I can keep up with them.”

“Connor if it wasn’t for Carl and Sammy I’m sure you would have been on the ground by now.” The two boys had the decency to avoid outright laughing, the smile on Sam’s face lighting up the whole room. 

“Slander.”

“Please,” Carol said pleadingly. “Please for my peace of mind, let the boys help you to Denise’s and have her check your stitches.”

Connor rolled his eyes, knowing it would make the boys at least chuckle, as he huffed while accepting Carol’s request. “Yes, dear.”

“Good, now go.” Carol barely waited until the boys had turned at the end of the street before she left their house as well. Ron had avoided them since he had been caught outside the walls by Rick, and she knew the absence of his brother was a weight upon Sammy’s shoulders. 

The thing is … Sammy was one of them, and if there was something she could do to help him, she was going to do it. No questions asked. And if having his twat of a brother - her boys' words, not hers - with him helped him in anyway … she was going to bite the bullet and go talk with the older boy. Ron might hate Rick, but she hoped he was willing to at least talk to her. 

There were no signs of life - other than the mess her husbands had left a few days before when picking up Sam’s stuff - inside the former Anderson household. No dirty dishes, no open cans … nothing. 

“Ron,” Carol called out, moving from one room to the other. “Ron, are you here?”

Silence was the only response. 

She doubted the kid had taken off, she hoped he hadn’t because if he had, he was probably dead already. He would have gotten himself killed leaving a ten-year-old without any blood-related family members left. And although she knew there was no need for a blood relation to make a family, she knew it would hurt Sammy immensely. 

“Ron, it’s Carol. We’ve been taking care of Sam, and we’re worried about you.” 

“Now you’re worried about me?” 

Carol just closed her eyes, trying not to allow the disgruntled teenager to see how much his sudden appearance behind her had unsettled her. Especially after what she had lived inside this very same house just days before. 

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to you sooner, we just wanted to give you some time to cool off.”

“We … we … you keep saying we. No one cares about me! No one really cares about what happened to the son of a murderer!” 

“Ron.”

“Shut up!” Ron yelled, his face starting to redden by the time Carol turned around to look at the teen. “Shut the fuck up!”

Silence. 

Daryl had told Carol, late one night - once they knew for sure about Pete’s abuse over his family - how it had been the feeling of helplessness which had almost broken him. How it had taken him an apocalypse and a new family to stop feeling as though he hadn’t had any say over his own fate … over his own body. 

Carol had agreed with him. In a way, she had also felt the same loss of autonomy being under Ed’s rule all those years. But she also knew abuse, what they - Sam, Ron, and Daryl - had lived was different from the one she had lived through. Ron needed to be allowed to make decisions, but it didn’t mean she was going to allow the kid to die because of them. 

“Sam is staying with us. We’re keeping him safe, we want to do the same for you.” 

Ron snorted. “What for? So Carl can steal my chick?” His voice broke as he mentioned Enid. “And so you can make everyone think you’re some kind of saint because you took in two pathetic orphan boys?”

“You are not pathetic,” Carol said sternly, her hands up showing Ron she had nothing in them as she slowly started to approach him. “You’re just two kids, two kids who shouldn’t be living on their own during a time like this.”

“A time like this?” He scoffed. “This place is safe! Nothing bad happened before you lot came! We were safe! We were happy!” 

“Were you?” Carol asked calmly. “Were you safe whenever your dad was beating your mom? Or when Sam had to hide under lock and key in a closet?” 

“Stop.”

“Or whenever Aidan or Nicholas were getting people killed during runs? Or when your dad was beating the crap out of you and everyone just ignored it because they would rather have a doctor, than to save a child …” Carol’s words drifted off as she saw tears running down Ron’s cheeks. 

“We just want to help, Ron.” Carol’s voice was soft as she finally got close enough to put her hands on the boy’s shoulders. “We just want to help you. Let us help you.”

“I’m not a kid,” Ron said snottily as he pulled back from Carol’s touch, avoiding her sweet gaze. 

“That’s the thing, you  _ are _ . You shouldn’t be having to fend for yourself when we can help you.”

“I don’t need your help!” Ron snarled before turning on his heel and running out of the house, leaving Carol watching sadly after him. 

The annoying twat was going to get himself killed, and it didn’t matter if he was being an asshole about it … it was still going to hurt like hell when he did. 

Her next stop was the pantry. A place still full of people - mostly women - who looked at her with pity over what had happened with Pete. They had no idea how strong she really was, how capable she was. They were blind to the world they lived in and were still obsessed with things like pasta makers, and wine from Tuscany. 

Olivia wasn’t that bad though, other than the weird crush she had on her husband - which in turn made her perfect ammo to tease her Pookie - she was level headed and overall good. 

It wasn’t like they were bad people. The only true villain in their new town had been Pete and it was resolved now. But they made her remember who she had been before, how naive she had been once upon a time … and she couldn’t help but hate them a little for it. 

A little small talk, a little teasing, and soon she was on her way with enough stuff to be able to cook something edible for her ever-expanding family. 

-.-.-.

“You two should scram,” Connor said, hissing as Denise started to pull at the tape around his wound. “Go and do something productive instead of standing there looking at me like I’m gonna drop dead at any moment.”

“As if we would all be so lucky,” Carl muttered jokingly as he started pushing Sam towards the door. “Even dead you wouldn’t shut up.”

“I’m telling Carol you said that!” Connor chuckled as he heard Carl’s bark of laughter just as he pulled the front door closed behind him. 

“Oh, thank God they’re gone,” Connor murmured before deflating as if he was a puppet and someone had just cut off his strings. 

“I take it you’re in pain?” Denise asked, her eyes looking warily behind her glasses at the older man. 

“A little bit.”

Denise chuckled, as she moved to raise part of the exam table so Connor could lay back and rest a little as she checked his stab wound. 

“It’s more the tiredness,” Connor muttered wincing as she started cleaning around his stitches. “I’m so bloody tired all the time.”

“You lost a lot of blood, Connor,” Denise said softly, pushing her glasses up her nose. “And even though you have the same blood type as your brothers, the risk…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Connor mumbled as he threw his healthy arm over his face. 

“Any other problems? Fever? Have you been vomiting?”

“No, just feeling like I’m going to pass out every time I get on my feet.”

“Then don’t.” Denise hurried to continue as she felt Connor’s glare on her. “Your body needs to heal, and it’s going to take some time.”

“I should be out there with my brothers and my kid.”

Denise rolled her eyes as she continued cleaning his wound. “The stitches look good, they need to stay on for at least a week more, tell Carol to put this on every time after you shower.”

“I can put it on myself,” Connor mumbled as he grabbed the tube of Neosporin Denise was offering him. 

“Here, drink this slowly, too.” 

Connor looked at the oral electrolytes he was handed with disdain before diligently opening the bottle and taking a sniff. “This smells disgusting.”

“Well, your blood pressure is still kind of low, so I need you to take even more fluids … and that’s the best of the best.”

Connor sighed, rolling his eyes as Denise smiled while he took the first sip of the disgusting concoction. 

“Just drink it slowly,” the medic instructed. “Not too fast because then you’ll puke your guts out and I would have to call your wife.”

“Why does everyone assume I’ll fall into line when threatened with my wife?”

“Have you seen your wife?”

Connor grinned. “You’ve got a point.”

Denise was still chuckling as the door opened suddenly, Tara and Eugene making their way inside the infirmary arguing about something. Connor had no intention of finding out what it was exactly. He liked Tara, but Eugene … Eugene sometimes was too much. 

Most of the time, he was too much. 

Arm covering his eyes, pretending to be asleep was his best chance to avoid getting stuck with the self-proclaimed genius. So, that was exactly what Connor did, an action which was harder than initially thought as he tried to avoid grinning while Denise tried to flirt with Tara. 

Tried being the keyword. 

He could hang out at the infirmary for a little while longer, at least here he wouldn’t have to fret about worrying his Carol. Everything was good for the time being; he could drink his concoction in peace, right?

Right. 

-.-.-.-.-

In the last few years, ever since the world had gone to shit - Murphy’s words, not his, in case his dad ever asked - Carl had somehow ended up becoming something he had longed for many years but never thought actually possible. 

Carl Grimes had become a big brother. 

And it wasn’t just the birth of Judith which had given him the title, it was several little siblings he had seemed to have collected over time. First, he had tried to avoid it, after all, he already had a younger sibling, so why would he want any more … but then Mika had come along. 

The little girl had somehow survived the unthinkable and had managed to become a fighter. And she had - on her own terms - adopted both him and Zach as older brothers. And now … as Carl walked through the Alexandrian streets with a little ginger boy by his side, he had seemed to have picked up another little sibling. 

“The boys are a little busy right now,” Carl said as he pulled out his knife from the scabbard he always had on his belt, “but I can teach you the basics, just so you don’t walk around without any protection.”

“But Carol will protect me, won’t she?”

“Of course, she will; we all will … “ Carl suddenly lost his train of thought as he spied Ron and Enid sitting together by the side of the artificial lake. 

“Carl?”

“Yeah, sorry …. We will all look after you, but we won’t always be there, so you need to learn how to protect yourself as well.”

“But what if I can’t?”

“You can do this, Sam. I was barely older than you when my dad taught me how to handle a gun.” It was a small lie the boy didn’t need to know. He had stolen Daryl’s gun and almost gotten himself killed before his father ever thought of teaching him how to handle a weapon. 

“But what if I can’t?”

“Then you’ll die. Or someone you love will die!” Carl tried to keep his voice low as he looked down at Sam, the other boy’s fear-filled eyes making him back off a little bit. “You have to be prepared, if not for yourself, then for the people you love. Because you know Carol would do everything to save you, but would you do everything to save her?”

“Carl?” Gabriel’s voice coming from behind the two made the older boy’s attention snap away from Sam. 

“What the fuck do you want?”

“They told you about what I said to Deanna,” Gabriel said, giving Carl a sad look. “Everything I said to her, it was about me. It wasn’t about your family … it was all about me.”

“We have been giving you a chance since we found you. Over and over again. And just when we think you’re one of us, you pull shit like that?” Gabriel sighed, looking to the ground as if he couldn’t handle making eye contact with the teenager. “Fuck you.”

“I’m ready to learn, I wasn’t before. But I am now. I want you to teach me.”

“Go eat a bag of dicks. I’m already teaching my little brother to fight and one student is enough for me.” With those words, Carl put a hand on the back of Sam’s neck in the same way Murphy had done for him many times before and started leading him back to their home. 

“Your little brother?” Sam asked softly, looking up at Carl with his big blue eyes.

“You’re part of our family now, kid. I know you already have an older brother … but I thought you wouldn’t mind having another one.”

“I don’t,” Sam said, an awestruck smile lighting his face. “I don’t mind at all.”

-.-.-.

Carol smiled as she put on the timer for the casserole she was baking. She could hear them giggling, all three of them laughing like the kids they are as Carl told them something the preteens seemed to find hilarious. 

Judy had finally fallen asleep, and with the three kids messing around in their room there was nothing left to do until it was time to pick up Connor from Denise’s practice. Movement outside of the window drew Carol’s attention only for her to roll her eyes as she saw Shelly glaring at her house as she stood across the street smoking. 

That woman was as annoying as they came. Carol was still pondering that as a burly unkempt man came out of nowhere and slashed Shelly’s side with a machete. Carol’s shocked gasp was drowned by the screams of surprise coming from her neighbors. 

They weren’t the only ones inside the walls of Alexandria anymore. 

-.-.-.-.

Connor startled awake. 

It had taken a few minutes, but after Denise had forced him to finish his electrolyte drink, he had managed to fall asleep. The fatigue he felt down to his bones had won and he had fallen into a dreamless sleep. 

Until he wasn’t anymore. 

Something had woken him up, and as his eyes found the petrified figure of the community doctor, his senses came back in full. 

Screams. 

Screams coming from within the walls of their community. 

“Carol!” Connor gasped trying to get off his gurney only to crash to the floor, making Denise finally react, moving towards him from where she had been standing as if she was part of the decor. “I need to go home.”

Connor pushed Denise’s hands away as he tried to stand, grabbing the side of the bed for support. He’d barely made it halfway to the door when his legs gave way under him once more. 

“I need to get home!” he yelled at Denise as she shot a panicked look towards the door, the screams outside increasing in volume and frequency.

“We can’t.”

-.-.-.-

“We saw it all from upstairs, they’re coming from all over.”

Carol nodded at Carl as she checked her five shooter’s ammo. “I need you to stay here, keep the kids safe.”

“Of course,” Carl said as he nodded at Mika, who hurried past him to give Carol a quick hug. 

“Take this, shoot at the biggest target,” Carol murmured as she passed the smallest of her guns to Mika, pulling her head close to drop a kiss on her forehead. “Be safe.”

“Carol, please,” Sam’s tiny voice made the three of them look his way. “Please don’t go.” He was pale, his lip trembling as he stood grasping the banister as if it was the only thing keeping him standing. 

“Sammy, I need to go, but I will come back.” 

“In our family,” Mika said to Sam softly as they watched Carol turn around and run out of their home, “we always come back.”

-.-.-.-

Connor could barely take it anymore. His heart, his soul, was out there where there was danger and he was stuck inside of a room unable to move. His thoughts kept trying to betray him, kept trying to make him doubt his wife’s prowess ... and he was trying hard to fight them. 

But as they continued to hear the screams, the terrified shrieking of people he could not help, they became stronger and stronger. He was safe while his kids might have been dead already, he was safe while his wife could be turning into a walker. 

“I need to get out of here,” Connor muttered as he tried again to get off the floor where he had been stationed for the past few minutes. “I need to get out of here!”

All Denise could do was shush him, her fearful eyes looking through the blinds at the carnage outside. 

“I need to get out of here!”

“You’re going to lead them right to us!” Denise hissed, her fear finally relenting a little as she turned to glare at her disgruntled patient. “You’re going to get us killed.

“I need to get out of here,” Connor sneered. 

“You put a foot outside of this room, and you’re dead meat,” Denise muttered as she returned to look through the blinds. “They’re everywhere.”

“Bring them on.”

-.-.-.-

“Carl!” Mika hissed, as she cocked her gun while pointing at the shadow behind the kitchen door’s window. “Carl!”

“Keep your eyes on the door,” Carl muttered to Sam as he moved silently towards Mika, reaching her as the door finally opened. 

“For fuck’s sake,” Mika exclaimed annoyed, “You almost got your brains blown out.”

Enid raised her eyebrows at the girl, as Mika glared at Carl while moving to take over his previous position at the back door. 

“Why does she have a gun?” Enid asked, eyebrows up as she looked at the retreating child. 

“You have so much to learn from us ... what are you doing here? Have you seen what’s going on out there?”

“I came to give you these,” Enid said as she dropped a handful of keys into Carl’s hand. “And I wanted to say goodbye.”

“You’re not leaving, not now. Sit down ... you’re helping us protect Sam and Judy. They’re not getting inside this house”

“Excuse me?”

“Look,” Carl said while pointing at the spot where Sam was sitting in the middle of the room. “You go out there right now, and you’re dead ... we can protect each other, we just need to work together.”

With a sigh, both teenagers moved to sit back to back with Sam, getting a glare and an eye roll from Mika as she moved to fill the position left. 

“Did you see them?”

Enid shrugged. “They’re just ... people.”

“People are the worst.” Carl nodded at Mika’s words, his hand moving to grab one of hers. The worst they both had lived through had been because of people, just people. 

“This place is too big to protect,” Enid continued, “too many blind spots. That’s how we were able to -”

“They’re inside the walls.” Carl interrupted her as he could feel Sam’s trembling beside him worsening with her words. “They’re going to die.”

“How can you be so sure?” Sam asked, his voice wavering with his tears. “How?”

“That’s what our family does,” Mika answered. “We survive.”

“Just survive somehow,” Enid murmured, voice too low to be heard under normal circumstances. 

“Don’t say goodbye,” Carl whispered a few beats later.

“Okay, I won’t.”

.-.-.-.-.-.

There was a calm, a specific calm different to all the others Carol had experienced in her life, which came to her in moments like these. There was the overall calm of feeling loved - which she’d found with her boys-, the calm of knowing everyone she loved in the post-apocalyptic world was safe, and the calm she found herself whenever she had a target she needed to fulfill to save her family. 

It was as though the world slowed down and she could think better with each move. It was like nothing around her mattered except doing what she needed to stay alive for her family. 

As she hid behind the bushes, watching as the people who had become her neighbors were slaughtered, she knew she wouldn’t be able to save all of them. But she also knew no one would get to walk away from this alive if the invaders got to the armory. 

As she sneaked around the houses, always watching, a plan already formed in her mind. They would live, they had to live. There was no other option for any of them other than to survive.

-.-.-.-

It hadn’t taken long before Eugene had pushed the door open with a bang, half carrying Tara inside. 

“There are unknown assailants out there,” Eugene stated to Connor once he dropped Tara off on top of a gurney. 

“No joke, shitbrains,” Connor muttered as he was finally able to muster enough strength and the proper grip to get back on his feet. 

“We need to get to the armory.”

“I, in the deepest part of me, think that you did not properly hear my own voice,” Eugene said as he looked at Connor like he was crazy. “There is a gathering of unknown subjects with the intent of killing every single one of us out there.”

“And it seems like you have forgotten who the fuck I am?”

“I have not.” Eugene nodded. “It would definitely be within what you have shown as a character to run straight into the fray.”

Their little chat was interrupted by the sound of a crash, followed by the blaring of a truck’s horn.

“We need to do something.”

“Staying safe is considered doing something, added to the fact that neither you,” Connor glared at Eugene, “nor Tara are in a current state to clash against our current adversaries -”

The bang of the door being pushed open finally managed to shut Eugene up for a moment, only to drag Denise out of her stupor. 

“Oh, my God, Holly!” 

Connor was barely able to get out of the way, allowing Rosita and Aaron to carry a bloodied Holly towards the gurney Denise was pushing to the middle of the room. 

“We have to prepare the surgical table. She lost a lot of blood.” 

The glimpse of the outside Connor was able to see before Eric closed the door behind them was the stuff of nightmares. Blood everywhere. Everyone else was trying to help Denisse, half of them getting in her way. 

“How many are out there? What’s going on?”

“A lot,” Aaron said, panting as he looked up at him. “I need to get out there,” Aaron frantically said as he looked at Eric. “I have to do something to help.”

“I’ll go with you,” Connor added, feeling the adrenaline high he had been expecting since it all started finally began running through his veins. “We need to get to the armory.”

“I’ve got to go, too,” Rosita said as she finished putting in the I.V Denise had asked her to do for her. 

“Me, too.”

“You got dizzy swinging a hammer!” Denise almost yelled at Tara as the other woman gave her an easy smile. 

“And he almost passed out from getting here, but we gotta do what we gotta do, right?” 

“I rather believe my services would be best rendered here?”

“What?” Rosita yelled at Eugene, as he looked almost ready to pass out at the knife sticking out of Holly’s stomach. 

“I believe my -”

“Fuck that, let’s go!” Connor interrupted as the sound of the truck horn grew louder as soon as they opened the door. “Fuck, that’s loud.”

“We have to go protect the armory,” Aaron repeated Connor’s words from inside the infirmary as the four of them made their way down the street ready for anything. 

“You two go, we’ll see if we can help anyone.”

“If you see -”

“- Carol, we’ll let her know you’re okay.”

Connor couldn’t help but give Tara a small smile as their small group separated to go their own ways. Fuck this day. 

-.-.-.-.

Morgan’s words,  _ You don’t have to kill people _ , kept running nonstop through Carol’s head as she pulled him behind her towards the armory. Once upon a time, she might have thought like him; once upon a time, she guessed she would have been as disgusted as he seemed to be by the carnage they left behind while trying to protect their community from the unknowns. 

But that once upon a time had been a dream, another life. In this life, things were what they were. 

_ You don’t like it _ , he’d said. 

She had rolled her eyes, not answering as she had told him her plan. Of course, she didn’t like it, she was sure none of them did; hence why they were on the side of the good guys. They killed because they had to. They killed because they had learned their lesson the hard way. 

It was killed or be killed. If you were too soft to see how the truly evil - just like the people they were currently fighting against - were beyond help, the end result would be someone you love dying. 

Every single time. 

Morgan leaving to try and save Gabriel worked either way for her. She needed to keep her family safe, and that meant being in control of the guns. 

“Hey, Aphid, where did you get the gun?” The woman had no chance to run, as Carol shot her and her companion before shooting the other two people fleeing from the house next to the armory. 

She killed because she had to, not because she liked it. She killed to keep her kids safe because once she had not done so, and it had brought pain and misery to her little girl. 

She killed because she now had to protect her family. And as she walked into the armory, a small part of the dread in her stomach fading, she knew … she killed so they could live, and no matter what anyone else thought, for them, for her family, she would continue to do so even if it meant her own death. 

-.-.-.-.

Carl was in the perfect position to be the first one to notice movement through the front door glass panel. At first, he hesitated. Should he move from his post to try and save someone who was such a twat?

The second the thought entered his mind was the same second he had his answer. Carol had taught him better than that. 

With a grunt of annoyance, and without taking the time to answer Mika’s queries, Carl rushed to the door, slammed it open, and took the shot which saved Ron’s life. He could hear both Enid and Mika scattering up to catch up to him as he stalked down the steps and towards where Ron’s pursuer laid whimpering as he clutched his leg. 

It was a rookie mistake, Carl knew he should have known better. It usually only took a second - they all knew it - for someone to make the wrong decision and get their heads blown into pieces. 

A step too close to the whimpering man was all it took for him to launch himself into Carl’s legs, trying to wrestle his rifle from him. But Carl had Mika watching his back, and with a certain headshot, the man was no more. 

“For fucks sake,” Mika growled as she moved to grab Rob by the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards their place. “If you get any of us killed, I’m gonna fucking kill you myself.”

“Ron?” It wasn’t until Sam rushed past Enid, when Ron finally moved on his own volition, clutching his little brother to him as he glared at his girlfriend standing at Carl’s door. “Come on, Carl is keeping us safe.”

“Carl?” Mika huffed, rolling her eyes as she pushed at Ron’s back getting him and Sam back towards the house. “What am I, fucking chopped liver?”

“I’m telling Carol you curse like a sailor.”

“Fucking blow me, Carl.”

“Do you even know what that means?”

“Fuck no, but Papa Bear says that to Con all the time.”

-.-.-.-.

Connor had always thought his wife was a vision, no one could ever compare in beauty and grace, but as she shot a man in the head who was doing a very convincing job of trying to kill him he couldn’t help but fall in love with her just a little bit more. If that was even possible.

“And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him,” Connor murmured as Carol pulled him to his feet, shoving a gun into his hands. “You always have had great timing, sweetheart.”

“Just trying to keep your cute ass alive, Cookie,” Carol answered as she pulled her bandana down, giving Connor a quick kiss. 

“The kids?” 

“Safe at home.”

“The armory?”

“Olivia has orders of killing anyone who tries to get in.”

“You have been a busy bee, love.”

“Not everyone can play opossum in the infirmary as we try to fend off attackers.”

Connor huffed, shooting a man as he tried to sneak past them between houses. They systematically walked down the streets together, checking for any residual foes. People looked out their windows, fear in their eyes as they saw them walk past. 

“Is this it?” Carol quietly asked as Connor checked a body lying on the streets for a pulse, putting a knife through the back of their head when he found none. “Is this how we’re going to live? Killing to survive?”

“What brought this on, love?” 

“Nothing, I’m okay.” But she wasn’t, and Connor could tell by how her voice broke at the end of the sentence. He could see their house, at the end of the street, his bed calling for him. Instead, he pulled Carol to sit on the steps of another porch, dragging her into his arms and feeling as her strength finally gave away. 

“Remember who you are,” Connor whispered. “You are Carol Macmanus-Dixon, you are a fierce mama bear who will do anything for her family.” He could feel her tears running down his neck from where she had buried her face. “You kill not because you want to, but because you have to. Because you need to live, for your kids, and for us.”

“You are loved, you are cherished, you are brave.” Connor's murmurings brought peace into Carol’s tender heart. “You are ours, you are what keeps us together, you are who keeps us alive.”

“You are Carol.”

  
  


.-.-.-.

The fighting had stopped. As Carl, Mika, and Enid stood guard around their house, letting Ron and Sam huddle together in the downstairs bathroom, the fighting had stopped. 

The kitchen timer ringing was what finally made Carl move from his position by the front window. 

“I can’t find Enid anywhere,” Mika said softly, cringing when Carl almost dropped the casserole he had pulled out of the oven. “She just left this, I’m sorry.” Mika passed him a piece of paper with a sentence written on it. 

_ Just Survive Somehow _

In the end, wasn’t that what all of them were trying to do?

Mika cringed as Carl passed her the note to read, her small hand finding Carl’s and squeezing it. 

“Fuck this shit.”


	3. Chapter 3 - Thank you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one folks... the episode didn't give me material for more so I think this is the shortest chapter in the whole saga -_- 
> 
> Hope you enjoy all the same.

**Chapter 3**

**Thank You**

He was running trying to catch up. 

His fathers had told him to stay with Glenn, and as Zach ran through the woods - keeping Glenn and Rick always in his sights - he tried to do as he was told. 

The air horn kept on screeching as Rick kept frantically trying to get someone to answer back at Alexandria. They were too far, and the only thing Zach could really do was pray and stay safe. 

He knew his mother was strong enough to keep everyone safe back home, and he also knew Carol would kill him if he ended up dead because he was worrying about them - about her. 

The sound of Daryl, asking what was happening, made Zach’s heart skip a beat. If Daryl was fine, it meant Murphy was fine. It only left basically half of their family unaccounted for. 

As Rick explained, Zach was able to push through his tiredness and catch up to him, snatching the walkie from his hand as Daryl started saying he was going to turn back to help. 

“Dad!” Zach gasped, slapping Rick’s hand away when he tried to grab the walkie from him. “We got this, you need to stay on course!”

_ Don’t fucking say that, your mom and your siblings are back there! _

“We got this! You gotta do your part. Murph! Don’t let him do anything stupid.”

Rick finally snatched the radio away from him, not letting him listen to whatever Daryl had replied. 

“You need to stay or course, if the other half of the herd turns back the danger will be worse.”

Silence met Rick from the radio. 

“Daryl?”

_ Let me talk to my kid. _

Rick huffed, passing Zach the radio while they continued to run towards home. 

_ How bad is it? Really?  _

Daryl had passed the walkie to Murphy, his accent making yet another weight lift from Zach’s shoulders. 

“We lost some people, and we’re halfway back.”

_ We can turn back, get there to help. _

“We can do this, Murph. We don’t need you to save us every time something goes fuckways.”

He had stopped. Zach could see Rick glaring at him from over his shoulder but he needed to talk to Murphy, he needed them to understand. 

“Trust us, Murph. We’ll be waiting for you once you’re finished.”

It took him a couple of seconds to answer. 

_ You better be. Take care of your mother, kid. _

“Take care of each other.”

_ Over _ .

“Over.”

Rick had gone off without him. In the back of his mind, Zach wondered if it was because he trusted he could handle whatever came at him on his own, or if it was because he was so focused on getting back he didn’t care who he left behind. 

His answer came half in the form of the petrified Alexandrian he got to save, and half in the nod Rick gave him as they reached the rest of the group. 

“They’re going to finish the job?” Rick asked as Zach passed him the walkie.

“Yeah.”

“Stay with Glenn.” Zach rolled his eyes, perpetually annoyed with their so-called leader. 

“The horn stopped, good,” Rick growled, giving the group a last once over before leaving them. “Get back safe.”

It was a testament to how good they knew each other when without really needing to say anything, Glenn, Michonne, and Zach knew exactly where each of them should be in their group. It was taking care of the least capable, all over again. 

Michonne was always point, her ability to get rid of whatever came at them was incredibly useful. Meanwhile, he was always in the back, trying to herd everyone together … usually, a job reserved for any member of their family. 

The Alexandrians were scared, and Zach couldn’t blame them for it. Most of them had barely seen a walker before they had been yanked out of their peaceful sanctuary. They were silent as they moved as swiftly as possible, to what? None of them knew. 

They only knew they had to get back. 

“Stay here,” Glenn muttered. “Don’t shoot unless you have no choice.” He, Michonne, and Heath moved away to kill a group of walkers approaching them. Zach stayed at the back, guarding, protecting. 

Zach smiled as one by one the scared Alexandrians seemed to find their bearings, fighting back against the undead as they all had done before. Maybe they weren’t as useless as they thought they were. 

Zach huffed as he had to leave his post in the back to help one of their slow as fuck neighbors, barely making it in time to keep the walker from biting onto the back of his neck. 

“Oh, my God,” the shocked man muttered, stumbling to the ground. “That one would have killed me.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Zach couldn’t help but mutter, rolling his eyes at Michonne’s glare as he extended his hand to help the scared man up. “Need to be more careful, there’s always one last one.”

The man nodded, rubbing the back of his neck where he would have been bitten if not for Zach. “We got to keep moving.”

And they were on their way. 

-.-.-.-.-

Every mile driven was a mile closer to keeping their family safe. 

At least, that’s what Murphy had to keep reminding Daryl as they painstakingly continued to stick to their plan. 

“We gone five miles out yet?” Daryl asked Sasha while trying to ignore Murphy’s annoyed huffing from behind him. 

“Probably the same as the last time you asked, literally three minutes ago.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Daryl growled back. “We should go back.”

“Daryl, fucking drive.” 

His brother only grunted, revving the engine so they could drive a little ahead of the car giving them some privacy to argue in peace. 

“I know you hate this,” Murphy said, resting his forehead against the back of Daryl’s shoulder. “But you heard the kid; we have to do our part.”

“Since when are you the level-headed one?”

Murphy knew what Daryl was trying to do, appreciating every second of it. “I’ve always been the more level-headed.”

“Says the man who threw a tantrum because he didn’t get his chance at being the little spoon.”

“It was my turn and you fucking know it; fuck you.”

-.-.-.-.

  
  


Their pace was even slower than before, with two people injured. If Zach had been anyone else, hell if he had been Nicholas or Aiden, the two injured would have been dead already. But they weren’t them, they were Glenn, and Michonne … they helped the living to fight off the dead. 

“I’m really thankful,” the man, David, said as he waited for Zach to catch up. “My wife would kill me if I didn’t make it back.”

Zach huffed, a small smile on his face as the man babbled on about his wife and the life he had both before and after the world had ended. 

“You are one of the lucky ones,” David murmured as they made their way into the town. “Having your family survive all this, together …”

“We have survived, but believe me… it wasn’t up to luck.”

They had lost so many on the way. No one could be considered lucky in this world … maybe these assholes who had ended up living through it all without a scratch could be considered lucky. But were they? Had they actually been lucky?

“We were the lucky ones, I guess?”

“You weren’t lucky, not really.” In that moment he felt like Daryl did any time someone said something unbelievably stupid in his presence, the need to huff and walk away trying to overpower him. “You are soft, you will die out here if you don’t toughen up.”

“You’re a kid,” David said, rolling his eyes at him. These people seemed to do that a lot, think less of them because of their age … or their gender like they did with his mama. 

“He’s a kid who can drop you from fifty yards, so I would pay attention to what he says if I were you.” 

“Oh, Michonne. I didn’t know you cared.”

“Ugh, you are becoming the most annoying part of your parents as each day passes.”

“Thank you; I try.”

They were both smiling over David’s presence when the rest of their party decided they needed to stop and bandage the injured. 

“I need to get back home,” Zach hissed at Glenn and Michonne, a few feet away from the Alexandrians who’d survived so far. “We need to move faster.”

“And you think I don’t? Maggie is back there! But we can’t leave them alone; they will die otherwise.”

_ So let them.  _ Zach felt immediate shame at his initial thought. As much as he hated this, as much as he didn’t like to be slowed down while his mom and his siblings were back in Alexandria without him, he couldn’t start thinking like that. Yes, family was first, but never with his humanity being the cost of it. Their humanity. 

“We’re not leaving them behind. We patch old Zach up and we’re going,” Glenn said his voice low enough to keep it between the three of them. 

“Rick knows what he knows, we’re ahead of the herd, maybe half an hour by now. We can stop; we can make it.”

“There’s barely anyone left back there who can fight,” Zach interrupted as Glenn seemed to be about to start counter-arguing Michonne. “My mom, Maggie, Carl … not many others, we need to get there as soon as possible.”

Glenn sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“We could split up? Zach and I are faster than the rest, we can push forward and you can stay with them and catch up at your own pace.”

“Look at them,” Michonne hissed. “They can barely move, I won’t be able to get them to safety on my own.”

“Fuck!” Zach hissed, knowing his conscience - which for some reason sounded like Daryl in his head - wouldn’t let him just split. “I’ll stay with Michonne, you go ahead and get home.”

Glenn took a deep breath as if centering himself. “We’ll stay together, I have to believe in how capable Maggie is … if we split up right now, it would only make us weaker.”

“There are no cars,” Heath interrupted their meeting. “None of them work.”

“Then we push ahead,” Glenn said without missing a beat. “Let’s get the injured; we need to keep moving.”

“Does anyone know the area?” Zach asked the rest of the Alexandrians as he moved to put the injured woman’s arm over his shoulders. “Do you know how to get home from here?”

There was no positive answer. 

“I guess we’ll just head east … see what we find.”

And so they did. As fast as they were able to, they started moving in between buildings, ducking away from alleys full of walkers only to find their passage once again closed off by them. Eventually, there wasn’t a way to go, forcing them into an abandoned pet store. 

“We stay quiet. We patch Scott and Annie up. We get out of here,” Michonne ordered as soon as they made sure there was nothing waiting for them, her face a mask trying to convey surety while on the inside she was feeling anything but. 

“Those walkers in the alley, and on the street? They are blocking the way out of town.” Zach groaned as he heard Heath’s words. Couldn’t they just have a quiet day for once? One day when not everything went to shit?

“We can’t take them on in the state we’re in.” Michonne glared at Zach when she saw him open his mouth to say something. “We can’t. We’ll have to lead them away if we have to.”

“Because that has worked so well for us lately.” Heath had barely finished his sentence when Zach had already swiped his feet from under him, making sure he was not going to crash into any of the metal pet pens before he kneeled on the man’s chest. 

“You shut the fuck up, and keep your blame to yourself? Got it?”

“Zach.” Glenn’s voice was so full of exasperation. Zach didn’t even need to look at him to know the exact face he was making. “Now is not the time.”

“Say that to Heath here, who I kinda think considers this our fault.”

“I don’t.”

“You better not, asshole,” Zach murmured as he stood up from kneeling on Heath’s chest, putting his hand out to help him up as he did so. 

“You are so annoyingly MacManus sometimes,” Michonne groaned as she rubbed her hand over her face.

“And proud of it to boot.”

“I got a plan,” Glenn interrupted whatever Michonne was ready to answer to the teen, knowing they needed to do something to try and get everyone out in one piece. “Your parents are going to kill me but I’m sure the two of us can pull it off.”

“Does it involve setting something on fire?” Zach asked as soon as he noticed the flare gun on Glenn’s hand.

“You’re your mother’s son.”

“Always.”

.-.-.-.-

  
  


“Daryl is going to kill me,” Glenn muttered as they silently made their way down the alleyway behind the pet store towards an old animal feeding warehouse they had found in the yellow pages while trying to attract the least attention possible. “He’s going to find out about this and he will murder me.”

“In your defense -” Zach took a pause to slam his knife into a walker’s head. “They made me promise I would stay with you at all times, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“I don’t think that’s going to fly when they find out what exactly we were doing.”

“That’s  _ if _ they find out.”

Glenn glared at Zach. “I literally just told Rick our plan, he’s going to relay it to everyone out there.”

“Ask my mom to cover your ass. She likes you, and she’s the most sensible one.”

“In a way, your statement is both reassuring and terrifying at the same time.” 

The grin Glenn got in return was all MacDixon. The sound of a gunshot at a distance made both men look back, towards home. 

“Shit, we need to go. Now!” 

They ran as they hadn’t run in a while. There was nothing else but the thoughts of returning home to their families in their heads. 

That is until they felt their hopes crash into the ground as they turned on the last street to see the building already burnt down. 

“Fuck,” Zach screamed, barely taking a second to breathe before his mind was already thinking ahead. “We need to light up any building on fire.”

“Fuck,” Glenn echoed as they turned on the next street only to find it blocked by the herd. It had been a lot closer than they had hoped it was. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

They ran, cursing whenever they found themselves at a dead’s end. They should have known better by now, they should have scoped out this town in advance and knew every nook and cranny. But it was too late now. 

Glenn cried out in frustration as he found the herd already on the other side of a link fence he had thought about climbing. They were getting too close, and they were now stuck in this back alley in the middle of a fucking unknown town. 

“Look! Up there!” Glenn’s heart was hammering hard in his chest as he looked at where Zach was pointing, taking off after Zach towards what seemed to be an emergency staircase on the outside of a building. “Let’s go!”

It’s entrance was blocked by a bunch of trash that they had to push through. It was not enough yet, the walkers would keep on coming unless they were able to enter the building. But at least it would be a few at the time, it would buy them some time. 

“My mom is going to kill you.” 

-.-.-.

The walkie coming to life on Daryl’s chest caused his heart to skip a beat. They both could hear Rick asking for anyone to answer, with no response. 

“Steady, Declan, steady,” Murphy murmured against Daryl’s ear just as he clutched the handlebars tighter. “Just as the lad said, we need to trust them.”

_ Daryl? _

Murphy clicked on the walkie, allowing Daryl to keep both hands on the bike. 

“We’re here.”

_ Won’t be long now. _

Daryl could feel his brother’s forehead against the back of his neck, the steady presence keeping him afloat. 

_ They’re almost here. I’m going to have them going your way again. _

Daryl just pushed on the throttle a little bit, needing to feel like he was doing something other than what he already was. 

_ There’s gunfire coming from back home. We have to sit with it and hope they can handle it.  _

“They can handle this,” Murphy said without needing Daryl’s prompting. “Carol’s got this, Connor’s got this, even Mika is a good shot by now. They’ve got this, Decks.” Daryl nodded, knocking his head back a little so he could tap their heads together. 

_ I think they can. They have to.  _

“They’ve got our wife there to protect them, Rick. We got nothing to worry about.” Daryl could hear the worry under Murphy’s tone as he spoke back through the walkie, even if he tried to pretend otherwise. 

_ I believe that. We keep going, for them. We can’t turn back because we’re afraid.  _

“Fear is afraid of our Carol. Everyone should know that by now.” 

The chuckle Murphy snatched from Daryl felt like the world at that moment. 

**_We ain’t afraid._ **

_ This is for them. Going back there before it’s done, that would be for us.  _

“Rick, we know this. Our wife is probably the one shooting. Do you need to convince yourself or something?” Daryl smacked Murphy’s face away from the walkie, knowing his brother had the incredible capacity of getting under Rick’s skin like no other. 

“Rick, Carol, and Connor won’t let anything happen to your kids. You know this.” They just hoped Daryl’s words were enough reminder for their ‘leader’ to stay put. Murphy was right, it did seem like he was trying to convince himself more than them. 

_ The herd is about to get here.  _

A few minutes passed in dead silence. Daryl was sure he could hear Murphy’s heart with how hard it was beating at his back. 

_ Someone shot up my ride. I’m not going to be able to get the herd to you. I need to run home to let them know what’s coming.  _

“Fuck.”


	4. Chapter 4 - Now

**Chapter 4**

**Now**

The moment Carol saw Rick run inside their house, she knew their bad streak was not ending just with the invasion they had been able to fight off. 

“Judy?” Rick asked as soon as he had Carl pulled into his arms. He was shaking, Carol could see. Either from adrenaline or exhaustion … probably from both if she was being honest. 

“Asleep upstairs; she was able to sleep through it all.” He nodded, tussling Mika’s hair before pulling Carol into his arms for a quick hug. 

“Thank you.” The words were barely above a murmur, but Carol knew how much meaning there was behind them. “Thank you for protecting them, thank you for saving them, thank you for being here. 

“Something happened, something else apart from the shitshow we fended off here, didn’t it?” Connor asked from where he had been forced to stay sitting at the couch, a new bandage peeking from the collar of his shirt. “You look like you’ve seen a fucking demon.”

“The herd -” Rick took a pause to breathe and rub his face with his shaky hands. “It split into two because of the noise …”

“How many?”

“Too many.”

“Zach?”

“He’s with Glenn, last I heard from them they were going to try to set something on fire to call the herd to them, but …”

“But the herd is here.” Connor extended his hand towards Carol, not really having any energy to do anything but that. He knew she would come to him, she always did. 

“Zach, he’s strong,” Rick said, nodding to himself. “If anyone has a chance, it’s those two.”

“Of course Zach is alive,” Mika piped in, startling Rick slightly. “He’s a MacDixon, and us MacDixons don’t let a punk ass bitch walker take us down.”

Carol couldn’t even care about her language at that moment, her trust in her brother’s ability to survive reminding her of how capable her son really was. Zach was smart, and together with Glenn, she was sure he would find a way to come back to her. He was a MacDixon after all, as Mika had just loudly declared. 

Rick chuckled, ruffling her hair once more much to Mika’s annoyance. “You know, she’s got a point.” 

“Of fucking course she’s got a point; she’s my kid.”

Rick chuckled again, his face losing the smile as he looked at Sam and Ron sitting huddled together on Carol’s other side. “We need to prepare everyone for this, we will be okay as long as we prepare them.”

“So, let’s do it.”

-.-.-.

Carol stood between Carl and Ron as they heard Rick’s speech, followed by Aaron’s confession. She hoped the rest of the Alexandrians didn’t blame him too much after this, the man had given her Pookie a chance and she would be forever grateful to him for doing so. 

Reg and Deanna followed Rick’s lead, which wasn’t surprising after everything they had gone through in the last few days. They might have appeared to know how to run the safe zone while it was … safe. But now, when it clearly wasn’t, it was their turn. It was their turn to show these people how to protect themselves like they had been doing since that cursed day at the quarry outside of Atlanta. 

It seemed like they hadn’t stopped fighting since that day. 

“What are we going to do now?” Ron asked softly, as everyone started to scatter, Carl trotting to catch up with his dad. 

“What do you mean?” Carol was keeping a hand on the boy’s shoulder, trying to softly guide him back to their home. Into their family. Both he and Sam had clearly been unsettled by what had happened, staying close to one another with Ron even allowing Carl within his vicinity. 

“Those things out there …”

“You heard what Rick said, Daryl and Murphy will come back and they will lead them away.”

“But what if they don’t?” Ron stopped, looking down trying to hide his fear from Carol but only accomplishing looking so very young in her eyes. “What if they don’t come back?”

“They will.” Her unwavering faith in her husbands was something that would never change. “But if something were to delay them, then we would find a way to fight.”

Ron scoffed, rolling his eyes as he raised his face. 

“You doubt what we can do? Didn’t you just get your ass saved by an eleven year old with a machine gun?” 

“Technically, Carl was the one who got saved by the eleven year old, Carl was the one who shot mine.” Ron made a face as he realized what he had allowed himself to accept, the simple fact he owed Carl Grimes his life. 

“That’s what we do, Ron.” Carol smiled softly at the boy, as she started to push him to start walking again. “We save each other’s asses. That’s the MacDixon family way. And guess what?” 

He didn’t answer, not that she was expecting him to. 

“You and Sam are part of that family now. You are stuck with us, kid.”

“Oh, great.”

-.-.-.-

“Enid it’s out there and Carl might be thinking of going to look for her,” Mika blurted out all at once as Connor played with Judith on the couch.

“I’m sorry, what?” 

Mika huffed, exasperated, moving to take Judith from Connor and passing her to an unprepared Sam. 

“Enid left, and Carl is kind of smitten with her, even if she’s Ron’s girlfriend. “ Mika’s tone of voice was as if Connor was missing the obvious. “And he has left the walls of Alexandria after her before. It was only one time though. So, I don’t think it’s too out of the realm of possibility that he might be considering going after her. 

“The fuck he will.”

“Exactly! That’s why I’m telling you.”

“How long have you known he was sneaking around?”

“Murphy knew as well.”

“Fuckers.”

“I know, right?!” 

Connor chuckled, pulling Mika to sit beside him on the couch and cuddle. “There’s not much we can do until your mom comes back. We’ll rat him out to her, and she’ll keep him in check.”

“Sometimes I wonder if we love and fear mom in equal parts.”

“You know what?” Connor said as he watched Sam play peek-a-boo with Judith. “I sometimes do as well.”

“What do you do sometimes?” Carol’s voice coming suddenly from behind the couch made both of them jump, startled. 

“We sometimes wonder how we were so lucky to get you into our lives, love.” 

Connor had to hide his smile when he heard the muttered  _ ‘Good one’ _ from Mika beside him. 

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Cookie.”

Mika’s disgusted groan made both adults chuckle, both of them watching as Ron ran upstairs without sparing a look at anyone inside. 

“How’s he doing?” 

“Is he still being a little bitch?” Connor elbowed Mika softly, trying to hide his snickering laugh at the girl’s turn of phrase.

“Language.”

“Sorry, Mama.” 

“I agree, though, he was behaving like a little bitch.”

“Cookie!”

“Speaking of little bitches, guess what Carl has been doing lately …”

.-.-.-.

It hadn’t taken them long to find Carl. The boy had been blatantly looking at the wall as if looking for the best place to climb it. He had been swiftly pulled away from it, chastised by all three adults currently staying at his house and was volunteered for guard duty immediately. 

And he knew better than to blow off guard duty. They were waiting for any sign of either Zach and Glenn, or Daryl and Murphy. They knew deep down that they were alright ... they had to be. 

The mere idea of them not believing it, felt like a betrayal on its own. 

“When do you get your turn?” Connor asked Carol softly, as she appeared in their bedroom later that day. Night had fallen, and he could still hear Deanna, Reg, and Rick talking downstairs from where they were planning for every contingency. 

“Rick wants me to lay low after today, so I get the graveyard shift.”

Connor groaned as he pulled her close, her head resting over his heart as they lay together on their too big bed. 

“Tell me they are going to be okay?”

It was only in moments like these, when it was just them, that Carol allowed herself to be vulnerable. Outside of their bedroom, she was an unstoppable queen, inside she let herself feel ... She let herself fear. 

“You know they will.” Connor didn’t need to repeat anything of what they had gone through, they all knew how often they were able to beat the odds. “You know how those two assholes are. They will get here just in time to make a grandiose entrance, and they will never let us forget it.”

Carol’s chuckles felt like a balm for Connor’s soul. 

“Deanna is preparing for the worst, Reg is more optimistic, but if those walls fall …”

“Only the strongest will survive.” Connor finished the thought she didn’t want to verbalize. This world was unfair, this world was unforgiving … and so were they. 

“We need to prepare the kids, we need to make our own plans in case that were to happen.”

“We will, love.” Connor moved to drop a soft kiss on top of Carol’s head, his hand softly rubbing her back. “But you need to get some sleep while you can, I’ll wake you up once it’s your turn to stand watch.”

“I love you, Cookie.”

“I love you, Wife.”

.-.-.-.

It was later that morning, with the first rays of the sun barely lighting up their sights, that they found it. 

Blood.

Blood weeping through the walls. 

“Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay guys, I haven't been feeling that well lately. My cousin is in the ICU with Covid and I just feel weird overall. It's a short one, but you'll get a full size one on Thursday. 
> 
> Thank you.


	5. Chapter 5 - Always accountable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just noticed I messed up the chapter names last time... sorry. 
> 
> Also we're back to normal sized chapters! Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 5**

**Always accountable.**

  
  


Bored. 

Murphy was so fucking bored. 

They had been able to lead the herd for a good chunk of time, and his brother already wasn’t the best conversationalist ever … and with knowing something had gone wrong back home he was even worse than usual. 

_ All right.  _

Sasha’s voice from the walkie brought Murphy out of his own mind. 

“That’s twenty?” Daryl asked the first thing he had said in a good half an hour. 

_ It will be. 642 is a mile ahead. We gotta put distance between us and them before the turnoff _ . 

“Fucking finally,” Murphy muttered bumping his forehead against Daryl’s back trying not to smile when he heard his brother’s annoyed grunt. 

**_So floor it._ **

“All right, try to keep up.” The asshole didn’t even give him time to properly hold on as the bike started accelerating. 

“Asshole.”

_ Daryl, have you looked at this car? Believe me, we want to get back there, too. _

Murphy huffed. Sure thing, the lovebirds might want to get back to boink or something whereas they just wanted to get back to their family. He knew they were alright, he just wanted to make sure. 

They turned on the 642-mile marker, and the further away from the herd - and closer to Alexandria they got - Murphy could feel how tension was bleeding out from his brother. 

“We’re almost back. It’s going to be all good.” 

Daryl had just opened his mouth to answer when the first gunshot rang past their heads, barely missing either one of them. 

“Holy shit, who the fuck’s shooting at us?” Murphy cried out as he pulled out his gun, ducking lower over Daryl’s back as he tried to shoot at some of the men who had suddenly appeared on the side of the road. 

“What the fucking fuck?” 

Daryl didn’t lose any time answering, he zigzagged as much as he was able, trying to avoid getting either of them shot while speeding past the men attacking them. He only cursed when he lost control of his bike for a second, sending them to the ground. 

“Get up, you asshole!” Daryl yelled at Murphy, who sat for a second longer where he had landed as Daryl took care of righting the bike. “Move it or I leave you behind.”

Murphy knew it was a lie, but nevertheless, it was not a time to test his brother. There was something wet running down the back of his left leg, but once more - as he jumped to ride behind his brother - checking for injuries while you found yourself in the middle of an impromptu car chase was not recommended. 

He shot at their pursuers while Daryl focused on getting them out of there in one piece. He even managed to hit the driver from the first car, giving them a head start on the remaining car. 

His brother got rid of the other one driving like Satan himself was following them. 

“We lost Sasha and Abe,” Murphy sighed, jumping off the bike just in time for Daryl to drop it and throw himself to the ground next to it. “Are you hurt?” His brother was breathing hard like he had just finished running a marathon. 

“I don’t think so,” Daryl grunted when Murphy laid down next to him on the ground, shoulders, and sides touching. “You?”

“Not shot, I think I either pissed myself or I got scraped up bad enough to bleed when we took a tumble into the asphalt.”

Murphy smiled when he heard Daryl chuckle. It was always a win to get his brother to laugh, even a little like he currently was. 

“You’re a pussy, so you probably pissed and shat yourself.”

“The walker to your other side might think differently.” 

Daryl couldn’t help but throw a punch at the closest part of Murphy he could reach as he finally noticed the walker lying not that far from the two of them. At least it was wearing a helmet. 

“Do you think it would be too disgusting if I take it off and bring it back with us?” 

“I think it’s disgusting enough Carol won’t let you in bed for a whole month.”

The two of them went silent for a moment after they finished chuckling at Murphy’s comment. Daryl’s breathing was slowly but steadily going back to normal. 

“That was fucking mental. Where the fuck did they come from?” 

“Blows me.” 

“Are we ever going to get off the ground so we can go try and find Abe and Sasha?”

“Give me five minutes. My back is killing me.” Murphy nodded, getting off the ground himself and moving to start righting his brother’s bike. For Daryl to be asking for some time off meant he was actually hurting, and getting the bike standing was the least he could do. 

“You didn’t piss yourself in case you were wondering,” Daryl said from the ground as he looked at the back of Murphy’s legs. “I reckon you got some bad road rash.”

“Well ... I’ll just have to ask Carol to kiss it and make it better.” 

Daryl huffed before a groan escaped from between his lips as he turned to finally start climbing up to his feet. 

“Can you ride?” Murphy knew his worry was more than evident in his voice, he wasn’t even trying to hide it. 

Daryl just gave him a swift nod. “We need to move on foot. This thing is way too noisy if we’re trying to fucking hide.”

“I got this.” Murphy motioned with his head towards the open woods. “You see if you can get them to answer on the radio.”

“Sasha? Abraham? You there?” 

The forest was filled with scorched corpses, making a shudder run up Murphy’s spine. Something awful had happened here, even worse than everywhere else. 

It was difficult to know if the bodies had been dead, alive, or undead before they burned to a crisp. The mere thought of finding their end in the same way, engulfed in fire, caused him to break into goosebumps. 

There was no answer from the walkie, so the two of them continued further into the woods. As far away from the road as they could get. 

Daryl kept on trying for the other two once in a while, neither of them noticing the light trail of blood they were both leaving behind. 

“Fuck this shit, next time please build a lighter bike,” Murphy sneered as he tried - in vain - to keep the bike fully upright as they went down a small hill. 

“Sure, like it’s so easy to build one these days.” 

“I’m so tempted to let you just carry it. The only reason I’m not is because you are still breathing like you’re about to have a heart attack.” 

“I’m not.”

“You better not, because how would I explain that to our wife? Sure, we survived the assholes who kept shooting at us, he just dropped dead from a fucking heart attack afterward. That’s like the pussiest way to die, by the way.”

“Oh.”

Daryl's small exclamation finally brought Murphy’s attention from where he had been trying to move the bike once again, only to see Daryl pull his glove - his bloody glove - off. 

“Thought you weren’t hurt, motherfucker.” Murphy’s grumble just made Daryl scowl harder, looking at his hand like he couldn’t understand what had happened. “Did you get fucking shot?”

“I don’t think so,” he said, wincing as he started to try and take his jacket off. Murphy immediately moved to help him, not reacting when he got a glare as he dropped the bike off exactly where it was. “Watch it.”

“Just seems to be some bad road rash, Connor would say this was even more of our twin bullshit.”

“This is just from us scraping the pavement after I crashed us there, nothing to do with the twin bullshit.”

They had done this a thousand times by now. On the road, there was always some type of injury to look after. Silently and without needing to say anything, Murphy moved to get the first aid kit from Daryl’s bag on his bike, wincing as he heard the squish of blood from the back of his legs as he crouched down to get it. 

“I’m not taking my pants off in the middle of some silent hill type of woods.”

“Murphy, shut up.” Murphy was ready to backtalk when he noticed his brother’s attention was somewhere off their little clearing. Slowly, he pulled out his gun just as Daryl moved to grab his crossbow. 

Communicating with just looks and a few hand signals, Murphy covered Daryl’s back while he hid the bike in some bushes. The bag strap across his chest, weapons drawn, they silently started making their way closer to where Daryl’s instincts were taking them. 

All it took was another signal from his brother for him to stay a little back, allowing Daryl to move ahead on his own. It had always surprised him how quiet Daryl was able to move around in the woods, Murphy could barely hear his steps as he moved further and further ahead of himself. 

A movement to Murphy’s right made him leave his position behind. 

“You found us, okay?” Murphy heard a female voice coming from behind the tree Daryl was currently standing by. “Here we are. We earned what -.”

“Don’t even think about it, asshole.” Murphy’s voice rang out as he cocked his gun, watching as the man about to take a swing at his brother startled into slipping and falling to the ground. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Daryl growled, taking a step back while giving Murphy a small look of gratitude as his brother joined his side. 

“Look, we don’t want any trouble,” the youngest out of the two women, his brother had discovered, said. She was a mousy little thing, hiding behind the other lady as she seemed to want to bolt to the asshole’s side. “Please don’t kill us.”

“We don’t do that.” At Daryl’s side-look, Murphy added. “Not without a reason … and let me tell you, trying to assault my dear brother, that’s considered a reason.”

“Just let them.” The man, still on the ground with Murphy’s gun pointed at him, snarked. “Kill me, but let them go ... just let them go.”

“If I was going to kill you, asshole ...” Murphy made a head motion for which Daryl immediately reacted by going to pat down the man for any other weapons. “I would have done it when you almost bashed my brother’s brains out. From what I see now, you ain’t got no weapon … and we’re not in the business of killing innocents.”

The last part he said while giving the young woman a smile. The reaction from the two other adults was immediate, a growl seemed to come out from the older woman as the man jumped to his feet to stand between them and the girls. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. I was just being fucking friendly, what the fuck it’s wrong with you two?”

“Murph …”

“Sorry, sorry.” Murphy stopped, sighing and lowering the gun as Daryl moved to his side raising his crossbow at them once more. 

“Your turn.”

Rolling his eyes, Murphy approached the women slowly. “Look, I need to pat both of you down just in case you are carrying any weapons on you. I promise this has nothing to do with you as women it’s just a precaution.”

“You don’t need to explain every single step, jackass,” Daryl murmured from behind him, just as Murphy passed him his gun. 

“Wouldn’t you want someone to say that to Mika if she was ever in this position? Can you imagine how awkward it would feel?” 

Daryl just grunted, but Murphy knew he had won that argument for sure. 

“Hi, my name is Murphy, I just realized we hadn’t introduced ourselves yet.”

“Murph …”

“I’m about to pat them down, Daryl. They at least deserve to know who is doing the touching. Sorry, ladies.” The man seemed ready to throw himself at Murphy, as the Irishman pat both ladies quickly but thoroughly. 

“See, all good,” Murphy said with a smile, putting his hands up as he moved backward towards Daryl. “You can never be too safe nowadays.”

“Come on, man!” The blond man almost yelled, sneering as he saw the slight blush on the girl’s face. “She’s just a kid, she didn’t need to go through that.”

“Look, I’m sorry. But our kid is eleven, and she’s packing … I’m not putting my brother at risk just because he’s too much of a prude to touch a woman other than our wife.”

Daryl passed him his gun back a little more forcefully than he needed to. 

“With that out of the way, can we just sit down, have a chat, and get to know each other?”

“Murph.”

“Look.” Murphy took a deep breath. “You are clearly running from something, she’s scared shitless, you look like you want to throttle me,” Murphy said as he pointed at the man, “and she seemed scared even of her own shadow … if you’re in trouble, we can help.”

“You’re not with Negan?”

“Who the fuck is Negan?”

Daryl’s question seemed to diffuse the tension from the situation completely. A small smile appeared on the girl’s face, as the brothers frowned. 

“Are you really not one of the soldiers on one of the outposts?”

“First of all,” Murphy said, gesticulating the way it drove Daryl nuts sometimes. “Would we really tell you if we were? But we’re only here because some jackasses shot at us as we were trying to get back home.”

“You’re not going to take me back to him?” The girl asked, seemingly the one who gained more confidence the longer the brothers talked.

“Look, lass, we don’t even know who you’re talking about … but if you are that afraid of them? Fuck no, we’re never going to help them get to you.”

It took longer than Murphy expected, but a lot less time than Daryl would have taken, to get the three strangers to open up to them. They were running from this Negan person, who’s actions reminded Murphy of why they had started the whole saints business in the first place. 

“So you’re telling me …” Daryl groaned as he pulled small sticks apart as they - he and Murphy - sat with their backs to a tree watching the other small group. “That this Negan son of a bitch was trying to get you, Tina, to marry him in exchange for getting you your meds?”

“Basically, yeah,” Tina answered softly, blushing slightly when Murphy gave her a reassuring smile. 

“And you were working for him, but you basically robbed him and ran out of there like an atheist from Sunday church?” 

Daryl snorted, backhanding Murphy on the chest as he shook his head. The three people in front of them, Tina - the kid - Sherry - her sister, and the motherfucker of her husband - Dwight - were scared shitless of this Negan character. The last thing they should be doing was trying to make fun of it. 

“And now they are probably looking for us … they can’t find us.”

“That’s why you were trying to bash my dear brother’s brains out … not that you would have gotten much out of it, really.” Tina’s small chuckle was well worth being teased relentlessly by his brother, in Daryl’s opinion. 

“We already told you.” The asshole was back at it. Murphy was sure the only reason he was staying put was the fact that they had no weapons. “We thought you were part of them. It’s a big compound … we don’t know everybody there.”

“Fair,” Murphy said, nodding. “We need to know more about these assholes before we think about taking you back to our people … but for now we can help you while we wait for them to stop searching for us.”

“Look, man, if you could just give us a weapon … we can go each our own ways and that’s it.” Murphy rolled his eyes as Dwight eyed his sidearm, sharing a look with Daryl as if to say ‘can you believe this asshole’ which did nothing to endear him to their new friend. 

“I might look like a good guy, which I am if I must say so myself … but I ain’t stupid. These stay with us. You are free to go on your own, you aren’t our prisoners, but we could help you with a couple of energy bars we have in our bag.”

Daryl started rummaging through their bag as Murphy talked, taking two out of the three bars they still had and throwing them to Sherry and Tina. “You need to eat, if you’re going to be running away from those assholes.”

“D,” Sherry murmured softly, looking at her husband, “We should let them help us …”

“Who knows if they might be worse than  _ him _ ?” The last word was almost spat out as if it was the most disgusting thing ‘D’ had ever said. “You know how fucking crazy people can be nowadays.”

“I like them,” Tina interrupted suddenly, biting into the bar she had been given by the brothers. “They have a kid …”

“Lots of people had kids!” 

“They said  _ have _ , Dwight,” Tina said softly. “They mentioned they still have an eleven-year-old daughter … she’s not dead, is she?” The last part was obviously meant for the brothers to answer. 

“When we left her this morning she was helping her mom with the house chores.” 

“How old is she?” Tina asked a look Murphy was going to use to tease his brother on her face as she gazed at Daryl. “Your daughter?”

“She’s eleven, we also have a twenty-year-old son.”

“And a dog … we also have a dog.” Murphy couldn’t help but grin as he saw Tina’s excited face at the mention of Snake. “His name is Snake, and he’s a very good boy.”

“If you have all that …” It was Sherry, this time, who looked distrustful. “Why are you out here?” 

“We were leading a herd away from home, were actually on our way back when we ran into some trouble.”

“Trouble?” Dwight asked, perking up.

“Some assholes decided to start shooting at us,” Daryl grumbled, pointing at Sherry’s bag by her side. “I need to check that.”

At Dwight’s nod, Sherry let go of the bag so Daryl could start going through it. 

“What the fuck?” 

“What did you find, sweet brother of mine?” Murphy didn’t need any other answer but Daryl showing him the cooler with the words ‘insulin’ on it. “Fuck.”

“She’s sick, please don’t take them away … it’s the only meds we’ve got.”

“Who do you think we are?” Daryl asked as he quickly opened the cooler, closing it as soon as he checked it was indeed medication. “We aren’t going to just mess this up.”

“We’ve told you already, we’re not whoever you’re running from.”

“You say that as if you’re the good guys,” Dwight sneered. “Like there are any of those left in this shithole of a world we live in.”

“Aren’t you a ray of sunshine?” Daryl rolled his eyes at his brother, as he finished searching the bag before giving it back. “That type of attitude will lead you nowhere in life, you know?”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m sorry, but you’re just not my type.”

“Murph …”

“He walked right into that one, Decks.” Daryl sighed, standing up and motioning with his head for Murphy to walk away so they could talk in privacy. “Don’t try anything, asshole.”

They moved enough away to be able to keep them in their sights, but for them not to hear whatever they were about to share between them. 

“So …” Murphy began, positioning himself with his back to the newcomers to keep them from seeing his face. “We’re helping them, right?”

Daryl’s grunts were exactly what Murphy was expecting from his brother, he didn’t quite want Dwight to know they were giving in so easily. The asshole had tried to knock his brother out, after all. 

“The kid, she won’t make it much longer out here …” 

“And if they are being hunted, those guys might eventually come after us …”

“It would help to know what’s coming.”

Daryl nodded. It was still weird sometimes, how their brains could process information the same way even after never having actually been together until the last year. But it was just how they were … monozygotic bullshit Connor called it. 

“We need to get back ASAP,” Daryl grumbled, Murphy slapped his thumb down as he started to move it towards his mouth. “We don’t know yet what’s going on back home.”

“We’ll talk to them a little more, ask them the old questions … and then we’ll make the offer.” Daryl nodded, starting to make his way back to the group.

“Are you sure?” Daryl’s question brought a sad smile to Murphy’s face.

“Are we ever?”

They were just back within hearing range when Dwight was already starting with his bullshit once again. “So, are you going to kill us now?”

“Can you fucking stop with your fucking yapping?” Daryl sneered, barely keeping his need to point his crossbow at Dwight’s face at bay. “You are such a punk ass bitch.”

Murphy snorted, shaking his head as he moved to sit down once more. “We just need you to answer a few questions … How many walkers have you killed?”

“I don’t know, couple dozen,” Dwight answered, giving Daryl a side-eye from where he stood at Murphy’s back. 

“How many people have you killed?”

“What?” Dwight made a disgusted face. “None.”

“Why?” It was Daryl’s raspy voice who asked this time around. 

“Why? Why haven't I killed anyone?” He turned to look from Daryl to Murphy, noticing how dead serious they both were. “Because if I did there would be no turning back. I would never be able to go back to how things were before all … this.” 

Daryl shook his head. “There’s no going back …”

“But there is going forward,” Murphy completed his brother’s sentence. “It’s good you haven’t been put into the position of having to kill someone to survive, but that doesn’t make you any better than those who have.”

“The difference comes between killing for power, and killing for your family.” The brothers shared a smile at Daryl’s words. They had come such a long way, both metaphorically and geographically to be where they were. They were not going to let anyone take it away from them. 

“And that brings us to our next point … we need to go.” Murphy motioned towards where they had come from with his thumb over his shoulder. “We have people who need us back home, and we kind of left in the middle of a thing -”

“We’ll take you with us, if you want to come,” Daryl interrupted before Murphy could rant even more. “We have a doctor, they might be able to help Tina.”

“What’s the price?” Sherry asked, looking at Murphy dead in the eyes. “What is the price for your help?”

“Nothing is free, lady - ever - but the price our community asks is that you help to keep it strong, just like every member is doing right at this very moment.” 

Dwight’s dry laugh made Murphy look away from Sherry, his confused face making Daryl frown. “What do you find so funny, fuckface?”

“You just want us to kneel, maybe not to Negan … but to someone else.”

“You know what, fuck you and your fucking Negan,” Daryl exploded, exasperated. “We’re trying to do the right thing here, but we just seem to be losing time … time our family might not have.” He grabbed Murphy by the back of his shirt, pulling him to stand. “So we’re going to go, good fucking riddance,” he finished before turning his back on the trio, and stomping off to where he had left his bike. 

“We’re walking this shit for a few more miles, and then we’re going to go look for those two fucking losers. Then we’ll go home before Carol even notices we’re gone.”

“She’s going to notice these road rashes, for sure.”

“We’ll work on that when we get there.”

“Wait!”

They were almost where they had left their bike when Sherry called out to them, their hurried steps loud enough for them to have known they were following since before she had spoken. 

“Wait one second!” 

“I’m sorry, lady.” Daryl was the one to turn and answer as Murphy began lifting up the bike. “But we really need to get going, our family is waiting for us.”

“We want to go with you,” Tina said, stumbling only to be helped by Dwight. “We just need to go look for someone else first, a friend.”

Daryl sighed, closing his eyes and leaning towards Murphy as he felt his brother walk up to his side. 

“Look, we would be all for helping you find your friends … but we’re not lying when we say we need to go help our family. Do you even know where your friend might be?” 

It was a blessing for Daryl that his brother was so much better at vocalizing their thoughts than he was. It was true what they teased him about, how his preferred method of communicating was based on grunts and snarls … but he was getting better. Murphy was always a plus though. 

“They were staying at their fuel company a few miles that way,” Sherry said as she pointed towards a vague direction. “That’s where we were going when we heard you before …”

“Alright. We still need to lay low with the bike.” At Tina’s look Daryl added, “It’s too loud, if they are looking for us - or for you - it would be a dead giveaway. We can walk that way with you for a couple of miles … we’ll see what we do once we reach the fuel company.”

“They might even have some left to trade … that would be good for all of us.” Dwight nodded, seemingly placated by Daryl and Murphy’s words for the time being. 

“Alright, so let’s move your asses. Light’s wasting.”

-.-.-.

  
  


They walked together for a few miles.

Daryl, as usual, walked silently, pushing his bike once he got tired of Murphy dropping it every few yards. Dwight walked with him at the back, apparently not fully trusting them, but unable to do anything about it since they were outgunned by the twins. 

And Sherry? Sherry had found a kindred soul in Murphy. A kindred soul in the sense of neither of them ever shut the fuck up, much to Daryl’s chagrin. 

They now knew how it was that Sherry and Dwight had survived the initial infection, how they had gone back into DC to find Tina - Sherry’s baby sister, how Tina needed to stay hydrated because of her diabetes, how awful living at Negan’s compound seemed to be. 

Murphy had felt his blood near boiling point when Sherry had explained why exactly they had decided to run away. It wasn’t just the dehumanizing they had suffered … the asshole had wanted to force Tina into marrying him so she could keep getting her meds. 

“That son of a bitch,” Murphy sneered as he took the bag from Sherry, carrying it himself instead. “If I get to meet him, I promise you, lass … “ He gave Tina a smile. “I’m going to put a bullet in his head for that alone.”

“Murphy, we’re trying to convince them we’re not murdering assholes -”

“No,” Sherry interrupted Daryl, “there wouldn’t be anything more I would want than to kill that son of a bitch.”

“Sherry!” Dwight exclaimed. “How can you -”

“What, D? How can I say that?” There was clear exasperation in Sherry’s words and posture. “That man wants to rape my little sister so she can continue to  _ live _ . Do you understand how fucked up that is?”

“That’s not ra -”

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you, asshat,” Murphy interrupted Dwight. “And trust me, I don’t like you, but what you were about to say is incredibly stupid of you.”

Dwight just huffed, pushing past Murphy’s shoulder, decking him as he made his way through the trees. “Your boy toy has anger issues, ya know?”

“He’s my husband.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, everyone makes mistakes.”

“No, I’m sorry you ended up marrying him.”

Daryl’s groan made Murphy let out a bark of laughter. “Stop flirting, or I’m telling Carol on ya.”

“Decks, the fact that you have no idea how to talk with women does not mean all of us don’t. I am having a friendly chat, I am not flirting.”

“I’m going to sic Mika on you.”

“Fuck you.”

It didn’t take long for them to catch up to Dwight. Dwight who was looking at an overrun lot with a deadly pale face. 

“Oh no, Patty!” Murphy was barely able to watch Tina, as her legs gave away under her. The young woman turned and buried her face on Murphy’s chest, finding comfort in his arms. 

“She could be -”

“No, she’s gone,” Dwight said, running his hands through his hair. 

“So, we follow the new plan.” Sherry seemed to be the one keeping it together out of the three. “We go with them, that’s better than anything else.”

“We could just go, the three of us,” Dwight begged, looking over Sherry’s shoulder at where Murphy was standing with Tina in his arms. “Away from them, from here.”

“If you want that, we can help you see if any of those vehicles work.” It was Daryl who approached them now, having left his bike standing against a tree. “That way you can leave if you want to, or -”

“You can come with us. It would be up to you.”

Dwight gave them a sharp nod, knowing it was the best option for them. 

“Alright, you two lasses can stay here with our shit … meanwhile we’re going to have D here distract the walkers while me and my brother sneak in to get ourselves some wheels.”

“Are you sure about this?” Sherry asked the brothers, still side-eyeing Dwight. 

“We told you we would help you,” was Daryl’s answer, as if those words explained absolutely everything about what they were about to do, and about who they were. 

It didn’t take long for them to get the vehicle, which surprised even Dwight. The brothers knew what they were doing, working like a well-oiled machine without even having to utter a word. 

“Have you made a decision yet?” Murphy asked Sherry, after helping Tina climb up the quite high truck they had gotten from the lot. “Our offer still stands.”

“I think we’re going to head off on our own.” She pointed at where Dwight was already sitting on the truck, glaring at Murphy. “I don’t think he likes the idea of going with strangers.”

“People should stick together, especially nowadays,” Daryl grumbled from where he was sitting on top of his bike waiting for Murphy. “It’s no good to be on your own.”

“We’ll make do. We always have.” 

Murphy moved to allow Sherry to slam the door to the truck close, watching as Tina waved at them as Dwight drove them away.

“He’s a jackass.”

Daryl just grunted in agreement. 

“He didn’t even ask which way we’re going.” Daryl knew his brother didn’t need an answer from him to continue on his tirade, so he didn’t give him one as he kicked the bike on as soon as Murphy had climbed behind him. “He’s driving the same way we’re going, now it’s just going to seem like we’re following them.”

Daryl sighed, punching up the throttle to catch up with the truck. They continued driving together until the first fork on the road, where Daryl motioned to Dwight to what direction they were going before veering off from the trio. 

“Tina was nice, and Sherry was -” Murphy didn’t get to finish his sentence when the sound of gunshots at the distance cut him off. 

“For fucks sake,” Daryl cursed as he turned the bike around, knowing there was only one direction those shots could be coming from. 

“You are a knight in shining armor,” Murphy snarked as he pulled his gun out, cocking it ready to shoot. “Carol is going to love to hear this.”

“Shut the fuck up and get ready to shoot.”

The truck had crashed into a tree, not even two hundred yards from where they had separated. Bullet holes were painted everywhere on the damaged truck, and Murphy couldn’t help but feel relief as he saw Dwight, Tina, and Sherry kneeling on the ground with their hands behind their head. 

As if they had prepared things beforehand, just as the men turned to look at the brothers flying down the road, the sound of another truck coming from the other direction could be heard. 

The shooting didn’t take long to start. With Sherry pushing Tina down to the ground, and Daryl taking care of driving the bike, Murphy felt free to shoot as much as he was able to. 

Surprisingly - or maybe not - the truck driving opposite them started firing against the men too, only for them to end up in a ditch on the side of the road when someone was able to burst one of their wheels. 

Murphy didn’t even realize there was something wrong with Daryl until the shooting stopped. The four men who had been threatening their apparent new charges dead, Sasha and Abraham slightly injured from the ginger’s bad driving, and his fucking brother bleeding from his shoulder from having caught a bullet with it. 

“Are you fucking dumb, or what?” Murphy snarked as he pulled Daryl off the bike, to sit down in the middle of the road.

“It’s not like I was trying to get shot!” 

Sasha didn’t wait for the brothers to say anything, moving to take the gauzes Murphy was already getting from their bag to push against Daryl’s shoulder. 

“Let’s just hope your wife believes us when we tell her we saved your asses.” Abraham couldn’t help but laugh as he saw the twins' annoyed looks at his words. 

“What? Are you afraid of the little housewife, Abe?” Murphy snarked, slapping Daryl’s hands away as they made to move towards Sasha’s “Stop moving you asshole!”

“I know your wife. You two are good shots but she’s …” Abe finished the sentence by letting out a low whistle. “Wait … do you hear that?”

Everyone fell deathly silent as one by one they were able to hear what Abraham had heard. The sound of motorcycles speeding down the open road. 

“Fuck, we need to move. Now!” Abraham had barely finished talking when Murphy had already hauled Daryl up, shoving his shoulder under his ‘good’ arm, and started dragging his bleeding brother away from the middle of the road. 

“Where to?”

“Through the woods! The town should be a couple of miles that way, we can hide there for long enough to patch Daryl up.”

“Why don’t you just shoot at them?” Sherry asked clutching Tina to her, as they looked worriedly towards where the sound just kept getting louder.

Murphy didn’t wait to hear what Abraham replied, moving towards the trees. He didn’t care about anything else, not the newfound trio, not Daryl’s bike, nothing other than getting his brother to safety. 

It wasn’t until they had stopped a few hundred yards into the woods, that he realized Dwight had somehow pushed Daryl’s bike all the way. 

“I’m not going to drop dead, Murph,” Daryl hissed as Sasha moved the gauze to check his entry wound. “Stop looking like you are the one about to pass out.”

“Shut up, motherfucker. Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”

“Whatever,” Daryl grumbled, scrunching up his face as part of the gauze got caught in the drying blood. “Thanks for bringing her with you.”

Murphy rolled his eyes hard at Daryl’s worry for his bike. He loved his brother but there were things he just didn’t understand from him. 

“How is he?” Abraham asked, his rifle ready as he surveyed their surroundings. 

“He’s losing more blood than I like. I need to find something to close it before he loses any more.”

“At least we can not worry about needing a donor,” Murphy mumbled as he pulled Daryl up again, frowning as he felt his brother lean on him harder than before. “You can just plug me in, like a red-blooded battery.”

“You’re such a dumbass.” Murphy smiled, his arm around Daryl’s waist tightening a little at his brother’s insult. 

“But I am Carol’s dumbass, so that counts for something. Right?” 

Daryl only grunted in answer. Murphy and Sasha shared a look, prompting her to start accelerating their pace. Carol was going to kill them all if they didn’t bring Daryl back in one piece. 

“So who are you exactly?” Abraham asked Dwight, once they had put enough distance between the road and their current position. 

“I’m Dwight.”

“That tells me absolutely fucking nothing.”

“We ran into each other. We helped each other out a little bit. We were going our separate ways when those assholes attacked again.” Murphy huffed, as he helped Daryl over a fallen log. 

“You came back for us.” It was Tina’s awe which brought something other than the frown he had carved permanently into his face. 

A small smile appeared on Murphy’s as he gave the girl a fond look. “We always try to help, lass.”

“And a lot of times it ends up with you getting a new scar Carol is definitely going to hate.”

“True,” Murphy nodded at Sasha’s affirmation, “but she also loves how good and helpful we try to be, right Decks?”

Daryl didn’t answer, just grunted in agreement. 

“Who is Carol?” Tina asked as she moved forward to walk beside Sasha. Leaving her sister and Dwight behind with Abraham. “You keep mentioning her, like all the time.”

“Carol?” Daryl mumbled, sweat forming on his pale forehead as they finally saw where the trees started to space out, meaning they were closer to town. “Carol is everything.”

Tina was frowning, clutching the bag with her insulin close as she looked at Daryl with worry. 

“And now is the moment you start voicing your love for your wife?” Sasha teased Daryl, trying to both keep him talking and keep Tina from looking as terrified as she was doing. “You’re becoming some kind of poet now?” 

Abraham raced ahead once they hit the pavement from in between houses. Sasha pulled up her rifle as they moved to box up the brothers - and Tina - in between them. 

“Carol knows exactly how I feel.” Daryl shook his head as if trying to get rid of the weird feeling in his head due to blood loss. “She has always known.”

“Our wife is a masterpiece,” Murphy added, stopping just for a second so he could grab his pistol from where he had been keeping it at the back of his pants. “And we let her know every single day how lucky we are to be able to wake up beside her.”

“What the loudmouth said,” Daryl grumbled, a small whimper from pain - only audible to his brother - leaving his lips as Murphy jostled him up a little so they could continue walking. “She’s the sun, and we’re plants.”

Murphy tried not to snort at his brother’s less than stellar poetic words. He was worried, Daryl was pale and still bleeding. They had about two miles, and with each step, he could feel him falter. 

“We’re almost there,” Sasha answered his unasked query. “We saw an old pharmacy, maybe we can find something for him there.”

“Anyway, we’re going to have to settle down for the night,” Abraham added. “Even if we could get a car running …”

“It’s going to be dark before we get back home.”

“Is it that far?” Sherry asked from where she was helping Dwight push Daryl’s bike. “Your home?”

“Not really.” Murphy pushed Daryl to stand with his back to a wall, as Abraham moved to check around the corner for any danger. “But with my brother injured, and not knowing what’s out there … the safest thing would be to hole up for the night.”

“Even if we want to get back home more than anything.” Daryl’s words made Murphy’s heart clench in worry for whatever they were facing back at the safe zone. They weren’t supposed to be out there today, they were supposed to have at least one more night with Carol before shit went sideways. 

Now they might never get it. 

“Get your mind out of there, Malachy,” Daryl hissed at him, pushing him weakly away as Murphy’s mind tried to put him down. “We are getting back home, and when we get there …”

“Carol will have everything under control.”

“As usual,” Sasha mumbled before motioning with her head for them to go ahead. At Sherry’s look, she added. “Their wife is a fucking badass.”

“That she is, isn’t she?” 

-.-.-.-.-.

It didn’t take them long to get to the pharmacy, and once they were sure they weren’t either followed or going to find a walker surprise later during the night, they finally settled down to patch Daryl up. 

It had apparently been less bad than Murphy had originally thought it to be. The bullet had gone through and through - Murphy later realized the bullet had actually grazed the side of his chest, although he did not let Daryl know that - and it had been both the blood loss and the lack of food and water which had caused Daryl to almost pass out. 

There was no need for an emergency blood transfusion, which Sasha seemed a little too sad to avoid. Daryl had eaten some of the bars Sasha had kept on herself, had drunk some water, and then fallen asleep. 

“Is Daryl going to be alright?” Tina asked Murphy softly as he stood at the entrance of where they had left Daryl to sleep off his injury. 

“If you guys stick around, you’ll learn it’s incredibly hard to keep my brother down for long.” 

It was then when Murphy realized Tina was starting to tear up. 

“Please, don’t cry. I’m sorry if I said something to upset you.” His voice was still low, barely above a whisper. The last thing Daryl needed right then was to wake up and see them worried about him. 

“No, it isn’t you.” Tina sniffled a little, giving Murphy a smile as she wiped her eyes. “You just remind me of how I used to feel about Sherry.”

“Used to?”

“She’s my older sister, I grew up looking at her as if she was my hero … ya know?” Murphy nodded, his thoughts immediately going to the other part of his soul they had left back at Alexandria. “But with this whole thing, it has just made me realize how scared she is … all the time.”

“It’s a big sibling prerogative, ya know? To try and protect your little siblings no matter how scared you are.” 

“I’m just worried it’s going to get her killed. Negan … he’s not going to give up looking for us just because some of his men don’t come back.”

“We’ll think of something, lass.” Murphy moved to pull Tina close in a side hug as they watched over the still sleeping Daryl. “I promise you, I ain’t letting this Negan fuck touch a hair of your pretty head.”

“You’re such a flirt,” Tina chuckled into Murphy’s chest, a snort of laughter escaping her lips. 

“It ain’t flirting if I’m just being friendly.”

“It ain’t flirting if he’s married either,” Sasha added as she walked past them to check on Daryl’s temperature. 

“You keep mentioning that as if I would ever forget. Also, she’s young enough to be my kid and that’s just gross.” At Sasha’s look Murphy was quick to add, “Of course, that’s different than whatever the fuck it’s going on between you and soulless over there since you are both adults.”

Tina seemed to calm down as she watched Sasha and Murphy banter back and forth. It had been so long with only her sister and Dwight as company. It had been so long since they had been last able to lower their guards, but with the brothers - and now Sasha and Abraham - it felt different. After all, they had saved their lives without having to. 

They would have been dead if they hadn’t shown up back there. Negan’s cronies would have taken them back to the Sanctuary, and they would have been made to kneel once more. She would have been forced into being Negan’s wife… if he didn’t kill her for running away. 

“Hey, you alright?” Murphy took her out of her musings as he started to move them away from Daryl’s den with Sasha apparently staying behind to watch over the injured archer. 

“Something wrong?” Sherry asked as she heard Murphy ask his question, glaring slightly at the arm he still had over Tina’s shoulders. “You okay?”

“All good,” Tina answered a small smile on her face as her cheeks pinked a little. It was a very bad idea to catch any kind of feelings for the older man. She was definitely not getting a crush on the sweet, hot Irishman. She definitely wasn’t. 

Sherry gave her a look, as she reached for her hand and pulled her away from Murphy. “You need to eat something, and drink water.”

“Did you go through what was left around here?” Murphy asked Abraham as he accepted a water bottle. At the army man’s nod, he added, “Anything of use?” 

“Some antibiotics, some sugar pills, all in the bags ready to move when we leave tomorrow.”

“Did you set up a watch?”

“You get the first shift, then Sasha, and I’m last.”

It went unsaid how they didn’t trust the newcomers yet to stand watch on their own. It was going to be a long night. 

“You found a spot?”

“You can get to the roof from here. I’ll show you when it’s time.” 

Murphy nodded, watching as the sun came down the horizon. They were stuck in there for the night. 

He just hoped everything was alright back home. He prayed for everyone’s well being. 

He just hoped God could hear his prayers. 

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Hey, Harry Potter.” 

Murphy groaned when he heard Abraham’s voice, kicking back when he felt Abe kick his chin to wake him up. 

“Wake up, fuckface.”

“Fuck off, looder,” Murphy groaned as he opened his eyes, shutting them immediately when the light was too much. “Fucking Harry Potter is fucking British, I’m fucking Irish, you dimwit.”

“Whatever.” Abraham rolled his eyes as he watched the younger man stretch before getting to his feet. “I have something to show you.”

With a few words to an already awake Sasha, the two men left the premises. Abraham had spotted a military vehicle on a bridge a few blocks away during his watch. Military vehicles meant possible weapons, as well as a ride. 

“I never asked yesterday,” Murphy stated as he slammed his knife into a walker’s skull, “but were you looking for us yesterday? When you heard the gunshots?”

“Nah,” Abraham answered, pushing a walker and making it stumble into Murphy’s knife. “We knew you would be alright. Our thoughts were that you two fucktards would high tail it back home as soon as possible, especially if we weren’t answering the radio.”

“Why weren’t you answering? We were calling like crazy.” 

“I kinda broke it during the squirmish.” At Murphy’s look, Abraham glared at him.

“Dumbass.”

“But we were right, weren’t we? You were already on your way back?”

“We gave them the choice, they didn’t take it. We were just thinking about them, about -”

“Carol and the kids.” Abraham finished for him. “I get it, man. We both do.”

“You were on your way back as well, weren’t you?”

“We figured out our best bet was to head towards home. You two were either good or dead, so …”

“My wife would have killed you if you had arrived without us.” 

“Why do you think we stepped on the gas when we heard shooting? We knew you assholes were going to be in the middle of it needing some ass saving.”

“Fuck you.”

“Not my type, lucky charms.”

-.-.-.

As if Daryl had an extra sense - which Sasha would not rule out based on all the fucked up things the triplets tended to pull - it took minutes after Murphy left for him to wake up. 

It took even longer for her to finally convince him to stay lying down, otherwise, he risked pulling his stitches. 

“I don’t fucking care,” Daryl grunted as he tried once again to make a move to stand. It was a testament to how weak he actually was that Sasha was able to push him down with just one hand. 

“Carol would if you end up dying, so please, just lay down while those two dumbasses go get us some wheels.”

“You keep mentioning Carol …” Sherry murmured. “That’s your wife?”

“She’s the only person on this earth who can keep these fucking menaces on a leash.”

“I’m not a fucking dog,” Daryl snarled.

Sasha sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. She’s the only person who can get these three to actually listen without a fight.”

“These three?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sasha chuckled. “Forgot there’s only two of them out here.”

“I’m gonna tell Connor you forgot about him.” Daryl’s snark got him a slap behind the head, to which he only snickered. “He’s never going to shut up about it.”

“There’s another one of you -” Dwight didn’t get to finish when the sound of a truck stopping outside, followed by doors slamming, caused everyone to tense up. 

“It’s too soon to be them,” Sasha answered Daryl’s unspoken question at the look he gave her. 

Silently, Sasha passed Daryl one of the handguns they had, together with an extra clip. At his nod, she passed Dwight one of the longer-range weapons, moving so she could try and keep an eye on the door. 

The men outside were clearly  _ not  _ Murphy and Abraham. For once, there was no Irish accent, and they were also very, very loud. 

“Fuck,” Dwight hissed, moving so he could press his back to Sherry’s front even more. As if making sure he was a barrier between whoever was out there and his girls. 

“You know them?” Daryl whispered a signal for Sasha to move silently across the room to a better advantage point. 

“That’s Wade, the men from yesterday were his men.”

Daryl sighed, wincing as he finally moved to follow Sasha. Sasha who was now crouching under a window, just rising barely enough to be able to see outside. 

Hand signals were all they needed to communicate. Six men total, two across the street, four on their side. He could hear them opening doors, and busting windows. 

They would only have one shot ... one shot at using the element of surprise and try to take down as many of them as they could … and hope that the shooting would attract Abraham and Murphy’s attention faster than it would the walkers. 

At Sasha’s signal, Daryl pushed himself from the floor and moved to stand next to the door. Quickly, he exchanged his gun for his trusty knife, and as soon as the man put a foot inside the pharmacy he pulled him into it. 

With a grunt of pain, Daryl lowered the man to the floor, closing the door as quickly as he could to avoid the rest of them noticing. 

One down, five to go. He left the body blocking the door, moving back to Sasha’s side. 

“Go upstairs. Pick them one by one?” 

Sasha considered it for a moment, before nodding and disappearing to the back, towards the stairs which led to the roof. A roof where they should have had someone keeping watch, he was going to kick Murphy’s ass for not doing so. 

He knew his cue would be Sasha’s first shot. She would knock one of them down, and then it would be his turn. With more down, they would have to be quick to take the other three before they tried to run back to this Negan fellow. 

They could not let Negan know who they were. Not yet ... if he was as bad as Dwight and his people made him to be. 

Daryl was in position when he heard Sasha’s first shot ring out, the sound of a man dropping to the asphalt music to his ears. His first shot found his target, but not without revealing where he was hiding.

There was barely enough time for him to dive back to where Dwight and his family were hiding before the men outside opened fire. 

It felt like an hour, with bullets flying by and Tina crying on his shoulder from where he had thrown himself over her. It was probably less than a minute before one by one the men dropped dead thanks to Sasha’s flawless aim. 

Tina was still shaking, tears running down her cheeks when he finally pushed himself off her. 

“Are you hurt?” Daryl asked as soon as he noticed the blood on her shirt, his stomach feeling like a thousand rocks had suddenly dropped on it. Sherry pushed him away, her hands touching everywhere on Tina’s body. Looking for where the blood was coming from, only to find her unharmed. 

“I think it’s yours, Daryl.” Tina’s soft voice finally made him realize he was the one bleeding all over the place. Again. 

“Oh.”

“Fuckass, I’m going to kill you dead!” Daryl barely had time to look up before he was being hauled to his feet by a clearly distraught Murphy. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes before you get fucking shot again!?”

“I don’t think I -”

“Shut your whore mouth, you motherfucker.” Daryl did as he was told, trying not to roll his eyes as Murphy made his own check - sharing a look with Tina which said ‘big siblings, right?’. 

He hadn’t gotten shot again, he had just very badly fucked up his stitches. Stitches which Sasha had to redo to keep him from bleeding all over the place … again. 

“Did you at least find us some wheels?” Daryl grumbled with his eyes closed as Sasha tended to his shoulder. 

“Oh, dear brother. We found so much more than wheels. What the fuck do you think you are doing?” 

Murphy’s barked question made Daryl open his eyes and tense at the sight in front of him. Dwight hadn’t given back the rifle Sasha had passed him during the assault, and now he stood pointing at them while Abraham was outside not knowing any better. 

“Are you fucking nuts? Give that back before you fucking shoot yourself in the foot or something, asshole.” Murphy snark was probably not the most appropriate at the moment, but at least he was being honest. 

“You are just as fucking insane as he is,” Dwight muttered as he backed away from the brothers and Sasha, pushing Sherry along. Sherry, for her part, was not looking scared at all. There was a calculating look on her face Daryl did not like at all. 

Sherry was the mind behind their little plan, and Dwight was just a simpleton who was following his wife. 

“Look,” Daryl sighed, pulling at Murphy’s arm so he would stay in place instead of going towards Dwight and company. “You can fucking go. We offered you our help, you don’t want it? Get the fuck out of here!” 

“I want to stay!” Tina’s statement caused all of them to turn their eyes to her. “I don’t want to go, I want to stay with Murphy and Daryl.”

“Tina,” Sherry said, trying to placate her sister. “We need to go, now!” 

“I don’t want to go!” Tina moved closer to Murphy, almost right into Dwight’s aim. “They make me feel safe! Murphy promised he wouldn’t let Negan touch me!”

“Tina ...” This time it was Dwight who tried to reason with the young woman. “We don’t know them. We can’t trust them. It’s us, we’re your family.”

“You’ll be better off without me anyway. Look at what I made you do! I can be someone else’s problem now. You don’t owe me anything, Sherry. Just go!” 

Dwight seemed rooted to the spot, but it was Sherry who eventually pulled at his sleeve so they could continue backing up. They continued doing so, slowly until they were almost at the back entrance of the pharmacy out of the group’s sights.

Murphy moved to catch Tina as she sagged against him, her sobs breaking his heart as they heard the back door open followed by the sound of Daryl’s bike being turned on. 

“Son of a bitch!” 

Daryl was still trying to stand up when the door slammed closed, followed shortly by Abraham running inside. 

“What the fuck happened here?”

“Fuck you.”


	6. Heads up

**Chapter 6**

**Heads up**

It hadn’t been that difficult, once Glenn and Zach took a smidgen of time to breathe, for them to come up with a solution to their dilemma. The walkers hadn’t been able to climb over the meager barrier they had left intact at the bottom of the staircase, but for them to just tear off the plank of wood covering the possible broken door. 

All it had taken was for Glenn to help Zach climb up - with Zach returning the favor later - onto the roof of the building. And they were safe, for now. 

“You okay?” Glenn breathed as he looked Zach over, worried. Partly for his friend’s health, partly because he knew he would be dead meat if something was to happen to him.

“A little out of breath, but you know …” Glenn couldn’t help but laugh at the sass the boy had clearly started to absorb from the rest of his family. 

It didn’t take long for their laughter to die down. They knew they needed to be silent as they each crawled to a side of the building, peeking over the sides to see how fucked they were. 

“The good news is that they ain’t getting up here,” Zach sighed as he moved to sit under the only shade found on the whole roof. 

“Bad news is we aren’t getting down,” Glenn finished the thought for him. The building was surrounded, and with the flare gun gone - he must have dropped it during their escape - they were stuck until the walkers found something else to focus on. 

“Seems like we’re having a sleepover.”

“You are becoming more like them every day.”

“Thank you, Glenn.”

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

-.-.-.

Mornings at the MacDixon-Grimes household were usually loud and crazy. With a baby, two preteens, a teenager, an almost adult teenager, and the triplets, it was loud enough to make anyone reconsider their position on capital punishment. But this morning was different. 

It wasn’t just because they were missing a couple of their members - which caused Carol great worry - or that they had barely escaped alive what was basically guerilla warfare from an unknown group. 

No one, not even baby Judith, seemed to forget the threat waiting for them out there. 

Carol had come in just as the sun was hitting the clouds from her watch duty, only to talk with an awakened Rick about what had happened the day before. About what had happened with Morgan specifically. 

“I thought he understood, knowing he saved Daryl out there.” Carol sipped on her coffee as she watched Sam, Mika, Ron, and a chastised Carl eat breakfast silently. “But …”

“They attacked me, you know?” Rick sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Or at least I think they did, they were the reason the RV was busted.”

“You need to talk with him, I don’t want it to come to pass that he will get in the way of us protecting someone over getting rid of the threat.”

Rick nodded, his jaw set as he pondered what had happened. Connor could be heard moving upstairs, still sluggish from the meds Carol had force-fed him the night before. 

“He alright?”

“He will be.” 

The soft smile on her face was only reserved for her husbands. The thought made Rick shake his head at the absurdity of the situation if it was only the Carol who he had met at the Quarry in front of him. But it wasn’t. It was the Carol he owed everything to. Her smile fell a bit as if remembering that her other two parts weren’t back yet, nor was her eldest son. 

“They are fine.” Carol just nodded, a brave smile appearing on her face. “You know those two will burn the world if it means coming back to you.”

“And I would do the same.”

“That I don’t doubt for even a second.”

-.-.-.

It wasn’t the sunlight on his face, nor the sound of walkers shuffling down on the streets which woke Zach up that fine morning. Those were things he had gotten used to living with, barely registering on his brain nowadays. What had definitely woken him and sent a bolt down his spine strong enough to startle him was the sound of someone trying to open the door leading to their position on the roof. 

You see, walkers were incapable of turning door handles. 

With a glance at Glenn, finding him still asleep, Zach jumped to his feet kicking Glenn awake on his way to the door. Finger on the trigger, he moved to yank the door open making whoever was trying to get out there spill onto the floor. 

“Enid?”

Glenn’s recognition caused Zach to react just in time to grab the teenager by the back of her shirt as she tried to run away from them. 

“Let me go, you fucking brute!” 

It just made Zach grab onto her more tightly. 

“What are you doing here?” Glenn was definitely softer than Zach at the moment, mostly because Zach knew Carl … and he knew of Carl’s feelings for the girl. And when Carl thought he was right …

“Where’s Carl? Is he out here, too?” 

“What?” Enid asked, turning and kicking Zach hard enough on the shin for him to let go. “Of course, he isn’t! He stayed.”

“Why are you here?” Glenn, always the diplomat, moved to stand between the two teenagers, knowing there was a fight brewing between them. “Why aren’t you back at Alexandria?”

“It’s none of your business.” Her snotty tone ground on Zach’s gears, Glenn barely able to swat his hand away when he made to grab at Enid’s backpack once more. 

“What happened in Alexandria?”

“What always happens, happened.” At the men’s look, she rolled her eyes before continuing as she moved to walk down the stairs. “People died.”

“Is Maggie okay?” Glenn beat Zach to it, hurrying behind the girl. “Is my wife alright?”

“Was it the herd?” Zach followed, not leaving any time for Enid to answer. “We heard shooting and that horn.”

“It was people!” Enid yelled as she turned to look at them from the bottom of the stairs. “It was fucking people.”

Zach recognized the signs before Glenn did, leaping the last few steps to land and grab Enid just as she was about to bolt - again. 

“You are staying and telling us everything.” Glenn shuddered at how much Zach sounded like Connor at that moment. “Every single fucking thing.”

“Alright.”

-.-.-.-.

It was for the best, Connor kept repeating in his mind as he made his way down the street with an Anderson boy on each side. It was for the best of everyone to keep Carl and Ron separated, especially judging by the amount of shit the two boys had gotten up to during their only night under the same roof. 

Carl, after Connor and Mika had ratted him out, was not talking to either of them. Connor really didn’t care, as long as the kid stayed inside the fucking walls he was happy. Mika  _ did  _ care, but he was sure Carl wouldn’t stay mad at her for too long.

Mika was impossible to be mad with for long. 

That left him with the task of teaching the Anderson boys to handle a gun. A task Carol felt it was of the most importance, especially with a herd literally knocking on their doorstep. 

“Are you sure I’m old enough to know how to handle a gun?” Sam asked, his voice shaking a little with fear as he shuffled closer to Connor when hearing the walkers outside the walls. 

“Don’t be a fucking girl, Sam.”

“Don’t fucking say that little shit,” Connor bit back at Ron, trying not to enjoy when the boy stumbled a little as he walked. “It’s okay to be a little afraid of guns. It’s actually fucking healthy, you asshat.”

“Sam’s afraid of everything,” Ron mumbled, rolling his eyes when Sam whimpered. 

“Well, the world is fucking scary. Stop being a whiny little bitch and help him instead of scaring him even more.”

Connor glared at Gabriel as they walked past, not stopping to chat with the minister. 

“You’ve got a grudge with that guy or something?”

“You’ve got a grudge with shutting the fuck up?” 

Ron shut his mouth at last. 

“Look, kid -” 

“Ron.”

Connor sighed, exasperated. “Look, Ron.” He rolled his eyes. “You are a little bitch, you have been fighting with Carl -”

“He started it.”

“You’ve been an asshole to my wife.” Ron actually looked ashamed at that. “And you’ve been a douche all around.” Connor couldn’t help but share a small smile with Sam. “I’m teaching you the basics because, for some reason, my wife vouched for you.”

Ron perked at those words. 

“I know you’ve been through the fucking grinder, but you need to step up lad. We need you to step up. We need you to stop being an asshole and help us, we have all been dealt a bad fucking hand. We have all lost people, we are all hurting. But we’re a family, and family looks out for each other. 

Connor pulled Sam in front of him, his hands on both of his shoulders. “And you two,” he smiled down at Sammy as he looked up at him, “are part of our family now.”

They would all pretend they didn’t notice Ron’s teary eyes as they reached the tables where Rick had left the guns for Connor to train them. 

“Listen up, you little shit, and Sammy. This is what you need to know before even thinking about shooting a gun.”

-.-.-.-. 

With Connor away looking after Ron and Sammy, and with Mika and Carl on Judy duty, it was time for Rick, Carl, Michonne, and Deanna to deal with the one loose end they still had. 

The walkers could be heard outside, groaning and moaning as they pushed against the wall. Carol shuddered as she walked past it, taking a deep breath, trying to center herself to where she was. 

It was not two years before, it was now. She was the Carol who had saved her family multiple times, not the one who let her little girl run away from her because she was hiding. 

Michonne’s musings brought her out of her own thoughts. She was always going to carry the guilt over what had happened to her sweet Sophia, always. But it was not the time to fall into her pit of self-loathing. It was time for her to step up and help keep her family safe. 

“I really don’t get that man,” Michonne murmured as they made their way back towards Deanna’s house where they had agreed to meet once someone found Morgan. “He almost killed us back in Georgia, and now he’s not killing anyone?”

“Who the fuck knows,” Carol murmured, eyeing as Rick accompanied Morgan inside a few yards ahead of them. “People are fucking out of it nowadays.”

“I’m just glad Rick’s alright.” At Carol’s mischievous look Michonne added quickly, “The RV would have been super helpful, for sure.”

“Yeah, sure.” Carol’s smirk threatened to turn into a full-blown grin. “You were worried about the RV, for sure.”

“You’re the worst.” 

Carol snorted as she moved past Michonne to enter the mayor’s home. They barely got a greeting from Reg who was busy tracing something on what seemed to be blueprints as they moved through the living room towards where Deanna, Rick, and Morgan were already waiting for them, sitting at the table. 

Morgan gave Carol a look, earning himself a cold glare from her eyes. She was not going to allow him to cause her to second guess herself. She had done that enough with other men in her life, but not anymore. 

She knew why she does what she does. She does it so there’s not another Sophia, she does it so there’s not another Andrea, or Beth, or Tyrese, or Hershel. Carol knows she kills people not for enjoyment, but because she has to protect those she loves. 

And she’s never going to let him make her second guess that. 

It didn’t take long after everyone was sitting at the table that Morgan broke the cold silence. “What’s going on?” 

Rick shared a look with Carol, before sighing. “When I was coming back, I tried to cut off the herd with the RV.” Rick turned to look at Michonne quickly, before returning his gaze to Morgan. “Cut the walkers away, but five of those people with a W on their foreheads stopped me.”

Carol could feel the need to start fidgeting, but she stopped herself. She was not going to allow Morgan to see any weakness in her, especially since he seemed to keep throwing her looks. He knew what was coming, he knew she had spoken to Rick, and he was blaming her already. 

“They tried to kill me. Shot up the RV. Now, Carol said she saw you, and you wouldn’t kill those people.”

“Did you let any of them go?” Her voice was hard as steel. She could see Morgan swallow, unable to meet her eyes. 

“Yes, I did.”

“For fucks sake,” Carol murmured, shaking her head in annoyance. “Are you kidding me?”

“Carol,” Rick warned, quieting her down with just one word. 

“I didn’t want to kill people who I didn’t think needed to die.”

“They burnt people alive,” Carol hissed, her hands tightening in a fist as her jaw clenched in anger. “One of my kids had to shoot one to keep them from killing Carl. And you think you didn’t think they needed to die? When they came here with the express purpose of killing everyone behind these walls?” Her tone threatened the hearing of everyone seated or standing at the table.

“Carol.” It was Michonne this time around. 

Carol took a deep breath, trying to calm her anger down as she pinched the bridge of her nose. When she spoke again, her voice was calm but determined, more like the Carol everyone knew and loved. “The only reason I don’t kick your ass right now is because you saved my husband’s life. That’s the  _ only  _ reason.”

Morgan swallowed again, fidgeting on his chair before looking up at Rick. “Why didn’t you kill me, Rick, back in King County?”

Rick remained silent. 

“I pulled a knife on you, I stabbed you. So why didn’t you kill me?” Morgan’s eyes refused to move from Rick’s even when he felt Carol’s glare on him. “Is it because I saved you after the hospital?”

“Everyone has gone through a lot,” Michonne answered before Rick could. “Some of us started as enemies, some of us fought against each other … but you know what made us, made you, different from what these guys are?”

Morgan looked at her, waiting for the answer he knew she was ready to give him. 

“We didn’t enjoy it. They did.”

“How can you know?”

“Because I saw them laugh as they killed our neighbors. I saw them smile as they pulled people apart. We don’t like killing people, but if we have to do it to protect our families, we will.” Carol’s chest was heaving as she finished her words, she hadn’t even noticed she had stood up and was inching menacingly over to Morgan. 

“Carol.” It was Deanna, this time around, who called out her name to calm her down. 

Carol took a deep breath, dropping herself onto the chair again and covering her face with her shaking hands. “I’m sorry.” Rick just smiled at her sadly and moved to grab one of her hands once she lowered them to the table. 

“I,” Morgan stopped to take a deep breath, “I don’t know what’s right anymore. Because I did want to kill those men. I saw what they did, what they would keep doing. I knew I could end it, but I also know that people can change.”

“Morgan,” Michonne interrupted before he continued. “We know people can change, but that’s good people who have gone down a dark path. But those people? They weren’t good.”

“They might have been, once upon a time.”

“And they chose to go down this path,” Carol added. “They chose to stay with a group who raped and murdered innocent people for fun.”

“Rape?” Rick asked.

“Daryl and Aaron found a walker, naked and with signs of being sexually assaulted, tied to a tree with the same mark on her forehead.” 

Rick nodded, closing his eyes as he rubbed his face with his hands. 

“All I know,” Morgan looked at everyone on the table, “is that all life is precious, and that idea brought me back, and it’s what keeps me afloat.” 

“Their life ends the moment they threaten my family’s life,” Carol sneered at Morgan, shaking her head when he turned his eyes to her. 

“I know you don’t enjoy killing, I know you hate it.”

“Of course, I hate it.” Carol squinted at him in anger. “Of course, I do,” she huffed. “I’m not a fucking psychopath. But I’ve lost people because I couldn’t defend myself.” She pointed at Rick and Michonne. “We’ve lost people because we didn’t do what we had to do at the time we should have. I refuse to let that happen again. I refuse to lose another child!”

“You think I don’t carry guilt over my son’s death?” 

“I didn’t even know you had a kid.”

Rick stood up, breaking the argument that was close to brewing into a fight. “Morgan, do you really think you can belong to a community without blood on your hands?”

“I don’t know.”

.-.-.-.

Enid had taken them through town, towards another abandoned building a few blocks away. 

“The herd went that way, we should move the other way.” Her words were plain, like moving away from danger - and their family - was the obvious choice. 

“Enid, we need to go back. We need to go back to our family.”

“I’m not going back there. I barely made it out alive.” Zach could feel his temper rising as the kid turned her back on them and continued down the street. Glenn was being patient, that was just who Glenn was. But him? He was too much of a MacDixon now to give a shit. 

“We’re going back now, with you or without you.” Zach's words made her stop for a moment before she rolled her eyes and continued on her way. 

“Alright, let’s go,” Zach murmured to Glenn as he turned to go the other way. Towards home. He could feel his conscience, which sounded a lot like his mom, start to protest as Glenn continued to follow Enid. 

“Enid, come on. Come back to Alexandria with us. We need to go,  _ I _ need to go.”

“Then leave me be! Leave me alone!” Enid’s tone had started to rise, causing a walker to notice them and head their way. Zach didn’t know why the fuck Glenn was arguing with the girl, too busy killing the walkers - now plural - that were starting to make their way towards them. 

“Whatever the fuck you are arguing about, do it quietly and inside,” Zach snarked as he pushed Glenn towards the diner where Enid seemed to be trying to get inside. The two men followed quickly, closing the door behind them. 

Only to turn and see Enid pointing a gun right to Glenn’s forehead. 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Zach didn’t even let Enid say anything before he smacked her hand away and snatched the gun right out of her hand. 

“Hey!”

“If you are an asshole, you get treated like one,” Zach hissed. 

“You are the assholes! You want to take me back against my will!”

Glenn sighed. “I’m just doing this for Maggie; she would not leave you out here.”

“I don’t even like your wife.”

“Well, I don’t fucking care,” Zach interrupted them before they went on a rant once more. “Who gave you this gun?”

“It’s mine!”

“No, it isn’t. This is one I’m sure Mika had with her. Did you steal it from her?”

“So, what if I did?” 

Enid squeaked in surprise as she suddenly found herself against the wall, with Zach’s arm across her chest pinning her in place. “If you touched a single hair of my little sister’s hair to get this gun, I swear to you -”

“Zach! Stop it!”

Zach huffed, glaring at Glenn who was trying to push him away from Enid. “She stole Mika’s gun.”

“I’m sure Mika’s alright. You know she’s alright.”

“If she hurt her …”

“I didn’t,” Enid quickly added, gulping when Zach’s gaze returned to her. “She gave it to me to help protect the house. She was perfectly fine when I left them.”

It felt like a huge weight had lifted from Zach’s shoulders. Slowly, Glenn once again pushed him away from the girl, which the boy allowed. 

Enid still looked a little scared, her eyes moving quickly from Glenn to Zach and back. “I don’t want to go back.”

“Where would you go?” Glenn asked. “If you don’t come back with us, what would you do?”

“I can make it out here on my own,” the teenager snottily assured them with false bravado. 

“No one can make it on their own.” Zach’s murmured words brought so many memories to the two men, of people long lost … and people they had found. 

“Not everyone has a family, like you.” Zach was taken aback when her anger was suddenly focused on him. “Not everyone can still have their whole family together like you.”

“Enid,” Glenn said, a warning in his voice that went unheard. 

“No. Not everyone gets a happy ending, not everyone gets through this fucking world with both their parents, their uncles, and their fucking little sister in one piece! Only you are that fucking lucky!” 

Truth be told, having a teenager stand up and yell at him right in his face was something Zach wasn’t expecting this day. 

“Look, shithead,” Zach said calmly, taking a small step back so she wasn’t all over his face anymore, “you have no idea what I have and haven’t gone through. So, just stop being a whiny shit, and let’s get your ass back home.”

“I don’t have a home.”

“Yes, you do.” Glenn gave Enid a small sad smile. “You have one with us, and we’re not letting you throw that in the trash just because you’re afraid.”

“Would I be out here if I was?” At Zach’s raised eyebrow she continued. “Afraid?”

“You are fucking terrified,” Zach murmured rolling his eyes at her face. “You are so afraid of letting yourself care for other people, you are willingly committing what amounts to suicide before allowing yourself to love someone. Super brave, excellent.”

“Zach.”

He rolled his eyes again at Glenn’s tone. “Alright, I’ll leave the shithead alone, but we really need to get our asses home before my mom is ready to murder you because you kept me out late.”

Glenn chuckled, opening his arm towards Enid. “Lead the way.”

Zach just huffed when the girl decked Glenn on the shoulder on her way out. She would fit right into their ragtag group of people. 

-.-.-.

It didn’t take long for Ron and Sam to bring Connor back to the house. Carol had to give it to her husband, she had no idea what he had said to them but Ron had at least acknowledged her presence and he had even said thank you when she had given him his meal. 

“Is he sick?” Carol murmured against the side of Connor’s head, as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind where he was sitting at the kitchen island. 

Both looked at Ron as he offered to help Mika carry Judith upstairs. “I just think he needed someone to set him straight.”

“You scared him shitless?”

Connor snorted, moving his face so he could drop a kiss to the side of his wife’s neck. “I would never.”

“Connor, I know you.”

“Blasphemy.”

.-.-.

Silence had befallen them as they walked as fast as they could towards their home. 

Enid had started their trek complaining, but a glare from Zach and a few encouraging words from Glenn had quickly shut her up. It was tedious, and the need to break into a run tried to overcome Zach more than once. 

He needed to check on his mom and his sister. He needed to check on Connor and Carl. He just needed to be back home ASAP. 

While he did move to kill the walkers who were mobile as they continued their peregrination home, those deemed too decayed to pose a real danger were left to their eventual natural demise. They had learned the need to conserve energy a long time ago, and how taking dumb as shit risks tended to come back and bite you in the ass. 

Zach couldn’t help but groan - loudly - in annoyance when he heard the sound of a walker being put down. He didn’t turn, although he did stop momentarily as he heard Enid’s annoyed ‘what?’ being said out loud. 

“Do you think your wife wouldn’t want me to kill it?” The tone in Enid’s voice ground on Zach’s wheels like little probably could. In a way, she reminded her of how fucking dumb Beth had been at a point, and how that had, in the end, caused her demise.

“You’re taking dumb fucking risks, asshole,” Zach answered before Glenn could. He did not have Glenn’s infinite patience, and she better learn that now than later. “And dumb risks get people killed.”

He could hear her huff behind him, but Zach did not give a fuck about it. Without saying anything to her, he started walking again, moving to grab the balloons they had left as a marker by the road the day before. 

“There are more behind that bush,” Glenn said, joining him as he was cutting off the chord keeping the balloons tethered. “You are right in thinking we could use them for something later.”

“Of course I’m fucking right.”

“Do you even hear yourself talk?” Zach ground his teeth, taking a deep breath before looking at Enid over his shoulder. “You sound like a fucking douchbag.”

“I would rather sound like one than be one, princess.”

“Ugh!” Enid huffed, smacking Zach’s shoulder from behind as she moved past him. 

“Real mature, princess.” 

“Stop flirting with her,” Glenn joked trying to bring some lightness into their situation. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Zach exclaimed loudly. “She’s like fucking twelve!”

“I’m sixteen, you son of a bitch!”

“Don’t you dare bring my mother into this, she’s a sweet lady and she can kick your fucking ass with one hand tied behind her back!” 

“Bite me!”

“I can get one of your friends there to do it if you ask me nicely!”

Glenn just shook his head as he started to inflate more balloons with helium. The trek home would not be boring anymore, at least there was that. 

“How can you be so infuriating?!” Enid cried as she moved to shove Zach on the chest. “I fucking hate you so much!”

“What the fuck did I do? You’re the one being a fucking brat!”

Glenn knew he should ask them to keep it down, but he also knew both kids were under great duress. Zach was probably worried sick about Carol and Mika, just as he was for Maggie. And Enid? Enid probably needed someone not to pull any punches … and that person was definitely a MacDixon. 

A look over his shoulder told him everything he needed. A wince appeared on his face as he saw Zach catch Enid’s arm from where she went to try and slap him. 

“Don’t,” Zach hissed. “If there’s something my dads have taught me, it’s that if you hit me … I’ll hit back. We’re all about equal opportunity violence here. Don’t you dare try and hit me, princess.”

Enid just huffed, snatching her hand away from Zach while glaring at him. “What else did your daddy teach you, asshole?”

“Please don’t call Connor that,” Glenn interrupted with a weirded out face. “Don’t ever refer to Connor as anyone’s ‘daddy’.” 

That seemed to finally break Zach, causing him to almost double over with laughter. “I'm so telling him that once we get back home.”

Glenn just groaned, turning back to continue filling up the balloons. 

“I mean it, I won’t ever start a fight with a woman … but if you hit me, I will hit right back.” Zach’s tone was calmer, the laughter having seemingly brought back his cool-headedness. 

“Does your mom know you like to hit girls?”

“Are you really trying to pick a fight with me?” Zach sighed, exasperated with her. “I’m bigger than you, I have better weapons, I have better survival skills … what the fuck are you trying to accomplish here? Because whatever the fuck, it’s your deal ... I’m no one’s punching bag.”

Glenn smiled with pride as he continued on his task. Zach had grown so much since the time of the prison, from being a lovesick dumbass to absorbing some of the best - and worst - qualities of his adoptive parents. 

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you right back, princess.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Stop behaving like a brat.”

“I’m the brat?” Finally, it seemed like Zach - either inadvertently or not - had gotten to the root of Enid’s whole issue with him. “You are the one who has absolutely everything. You are the one who has a family, a mother to tuck you in at night, a father who looks after you. You even have a fucking dog!” 

“And what is it to you? Why the fuck me having a family is suddenly a fucking problem?!”

“Because I don’t!”

Those three words seemed to finally shut Zach up. There was no response to something as guttural as what Enid had just uttered. Her face said it all, she hadn’t meant to let it blurt out. Those were words never meant to be heard. 

Zach did the first thing his mind told him to. He pulled Enid to him in a forced hug. The girl initially protested, her face marked with tears. Neither of them had noticed them until she finally dropped her head onto his shoulder as sobs wracked through her body. 

“I’m sorry, princess.” Zach’s tone had shifted, closer to how he spoke to Mika than the one he was using before. “I’m sorry you lost your family, I’m sorry you feel like you’re alone.”

Finally having finished with the balloons, Glenn stood up and moved towards the couple. “Enid.” The girl barely looked up from where she was still hiding in Zach’s arms. “Who did you stay with back home?”

“I lived in Olivia’s place.” She made a pause to move back from Zach’s arms and wipe her tears. “But I was really alone.”

“You’re not anymore,” Zach said softly, a smile on his face. “That’s the secret, princess.” There was a mischievous smile on his face. “Out here? You make your own home … and home is not a place, is the people you’re with.”

“I’m sure Maggie won’t mind you staying with us, once we’re back.” 

Enid made a face, opening her mouth to argue Glenn’s offer. “Shut up, princess. You take the family in whichever way it comes, sometimes from a kick-ass couple … sometimes from someone like my mom and my dads.”

“Wait …” Zach smiled when Enid finally seemed to get it. “Your parents aren’t your parents?”

“They are more of my parents than my real ones ever were.” Glenn smiled at Zach’s words. “But if you’re asking me if they are our - Mika and mine’s - biological parents? Then nope.”

“But …”

“He seems like a copy of them? I know, it’s fucking weird.”

“Your face is fucking weird. I don’t get what Maggie sees in you.”

“See?” Glenn pointed at Zach as he approached Enid, extending his hand with the balloons to Zach knowing the boy would get them. “He has weirdly become a part of them.”

“I’m gonna tell my mom on you,” Zach muttered as he moved to wrap the cord with the balloons around his wrist. 

Glenn snorted, before moving to put his hands on Enid’s shoulders. “We’re all orphans here, or we must be by now.” There was a sad smile on his face. “What’s left of us is to form our own families, we’ve all lost people … but we also found them.”

“But how do you not fear you will lose them again?” Enid asked as she wiped the snot from her face, wincing when she noticed the stain on Zach’s shirt. 

“Oh, it terrifies us,” Zach answered, turning to look towards where Alexandria stood miles down the road. “But that fear drives us to do everything to survive, so we can go back to them.”

“And they do the same thing, they do everything to survive … for us.” Glenn pulled Enid into a short hug. “We honor the dead by going on, even when we are scared. You live because they didn’t get to. You find people you can love because they can’t anymore.”

“You’ve lost people?” Enid’s timid voice was such a difference from the one she used when yelling, that it brought a sad smile to Zach’s face. 

“Lots of them. But we just have to remember what they have all taught us. It’s not going to hurt any less, but to have someone who loves you? That makes all the difference.”

-.-.-.

“Ron, come on,” Sam whined as he pulled at his brother’s shirt. “We’re going to get into trouble.”

The whispers of the boy caused no change in his brother. Ron, slowly but surely, sneaked into the pantry pushing something off a shelf as he did so. He knew Olivia, and he knew it would be the distraction he needed to sneak into the armory. Whinny brother or not. 

“What are you doing?!” Sam asked, wincing when Ron glared at him into silence again. They had offered to go and ask Rick how things were going, with the express intention - at least on Ron’s part - to sneak in and get some bullets for the gun Connor had allowed him to keep. 

He got what the older man was trying to say. He did get it, he was not stupid. He was in charge of Sam now, whether he liked it or not. They were all each other had left, and if he had to sneak and steal to try and protect his whiny bitch of a little brother … then he would do it. 

His mom would have wanted him to do it. He might not have been able to do anything to help her, he might have been too weak to do anything against his father, but he wasn’t weak anymore. 

Sam would not be a victim of anyone, again. Not from anyone pretending to be their parents, not from any outsiders like the ones which attacked them yesterday, and definitely not from those fucking walking corpses. 

They left the armory as fast and as secretly as they had gotten in. Even with the limpet, he seemed to be carrying everywhere with him. 

-.-.-.

It was like something out of a nightmare. 

It felt as though his heart had stopped beating, and his brain had stopped working, all while he was watching a horde of flesh-eaters trying to bring down what they had allowed themselves to call home. 

It was the prison all over again. 

He was probably hyperventilating. He knew, in theory, he should try and stop himself from passing out. It would not help their cause at all, but the mere thought of something really happening to his mother was bringing him to his knees. 

And he had just told the princess she needed to stop being such a coward. 

“Zach!” Glenn seemed to have been calling his name for a while, but it wasn’t until that last time that it registered. “You need to breathe.” Even Enid looked worried, and she hated his guts up until a couple of miles ago. It was definitely not a good sign. 

“Zach!”

“I’m ...” He had to stop to take a breath. “... trying.”

“You need to keep it together.” He noticed then how tight he had been fisting his hands, his fingers tingling once he opened them. “I need your help.”

“Yeah.” Zach put a hand over his chest, trying to remember how Carol had shown them she calmed herself down whenever she was in closed spaces. He started counting his breaths, counting the seconds between inhalation and exhalation, feeling his heart beating underneath his palm. “Just give me a sec.”

“Stop!” Zach ignored Glenn and Enid as he continued to try and keep his breathing in control, watching as the walkers pounded on the walls around Alexandria. The walls were holding, and as long as they did his family was safe inside. 

He knew no mere humans would have been able to harm his family, his mom alone could take down entire communities on her own. They were just fine. 

“What’s the plan?” Zach muttered once he felt Glenn - with Enid on his other side - join him to watch the scene once again. “Reckon we can find a place to climb back in?” 

“I don’t think that’s possible. The walls are too high.” 

Zach gave Enid a look across Glenn, knowing the kid had definitely gotten out somehow other than the front door. 

“Yeah,” Enid grimaced. “About that …”

-.-.-.

“We need to have a contingency plan,” Carol stated as she entered their house, Judith on her hip. 

Connor was lying on the couch, having been banished thereafter Carol had considered he had done ‘too much’ for the day. He both hated it and loved it at the same time. 

“Yes, love?” 

Judith was set on his lap before Carol moved to cuddle to his side. He could feel the tension in her shoulders, how strung up she was. Ready to fight at a moment’s notice, ready to protect with her own life. 

“If the wall falls.” There was a pause where both of them had to gather their thoughts. The idea of the wall falling was not a new one for them, they had talked about what to do in those cases … but it usually involved the four of them being in the same place. Now it was just the two of them, with a myriad of children to protect on their own. “We need to tell the kids what to do in that case.”

“What do you reckon? Mika already knows to carry her gun and knife, Carl has that rifle glued to his side …”

“We need to get Ron and Sammy at least knives.”

“Alright.”

“We need to have a bag ready for Judy, as well as the baby carrier at hand.”

“Already had Carl do that, it’s by the door.”

“You’re so smart, Cookie.” Connor couldn’t help but smile down at his wife, moving to give her a soft kiss when she puckered her lips. 

“I’m just trying to earn my keep, milady.”

Carol chuckled, sighing as she caressed Judith’s head where the baby had laid down to sleep on Connor’s chest. “I’m just so worried about them.”

“I know, love.” And he  _ did  _ know. He knew she would die before allowing anything to happen to any of the kids - not only under their roof but in the whole community. And he was there to avoid that. “That’s why we’re talking this over, so we can come up with what to do in case anything happens.”

The sounds of shots in the distance caused the two of them to jump to their feet. Judith started to cry when she was jolted, but neither of the two took the time to stop her as they started to move in perfect sync. 

“Mika?!” Connor yelled towards the stairs, as he watched Carol start to strap the baby carrier onto her body. 

“On it!” her small voice answered, her quick steps resounding as she ran across the upper floor. He could hear Sam asking her something, his voice full of fear. 

Judith was finally quiet, snuggled into Carol’s chest a minute later when Mika appeared on the stairs. 

“The walls are still up, something is happening at the front but there are no screams.” 

That seemed to calm both adults down a little bit, Carol finally taking the time to check on Judith just as the three kids currently in the house - Mika, Sam, and Ron - descended the stairs. 

“I’m going to go look,” Connor told Carol, giving the kids a nod as she started to usher them back upstairs. “I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

“Be safe.” 

“When am I not?”

“Connor.”

“I’m going to be back in a jiffy.”

He could hear Sam asking what a jiffy was as he closed their front door. Those kids were going to be just fine, he was making sure of that. 

.-.-.-

They were close to the turn. And the turn meant they were close enough to Alexandria, Daryl was sure he could already smell his wife’s cooking from where he sat at the front of the army truck Abraham and Murphy had found. 

He was still shaky, and paler than any of the current passengers liked. And he just knew Carol was going to be pissed he had gotten shot, she had enough already on her plate with one shot sibling, and now she was about to have to deal with a second one. 

At least she was going to be happy keeping him at her side as long as he took to heal, not that he was going to go about complaining about that part. Not one peep. 

“We’re almost there,” Sasha told Tina softly. The girl had been crying on and off since they had set off from the town, making Daryl very uncomfortable. He had even tried to convince Murphy to trade spaces with him. After all, his twin was way better equipped to deal with a crying woman. 

The only crying woman Daryl knew what to do around was Carol. And he absolutely hated it when she cried. His shoulder was stinging like a bitch, and all he wanted was his bed and the arms of the woman he loved. 

He was ready for this trip to be done. He was never allowing Rick to volunteer him for anything ever again. 

“What the fuck?” Sasha’s murmuring brought Daryl out of his own mind, squinting his eyes as he noticed three figures standing right in the middle of the road. 

One of them looked remarkably like his son the closer Sasha drove to them. 

“Murph!” 

“I see that little shit.” He could hear his brother through the window, his ass was probably standing up on the bed risking his fucking neck. 

“Finally some fucking good news, right?” 

“Yeah,” Daryl answered Sasha’s question. “At least there’s that.”

-.-.-.

The moment Maggie saw the green balloons she just knew. 

Glenn was alive. 

And if Glenn was alive, it meant Zach had to be as well. 

So she ran to the other person in Alexandria who needed to hear that information the most. 

“Carol!” Maggie frowned when she noticed Carol was alone with all the kids in the home, kids who were armed to the teeth. “It’s Glenn, he sent a signal and if Glenn is alive that means -”

“Zach is coming home.” The smile on the other woman’s face was wiped the second a crash resounded in the whole community. 

“Fuck.”


	7. Start to Finish.

**Chapter 7**

**Start to Finish.**

For a moment the world stood still. 

Maggie and Carol’s eyes met, panic clear in them as shots began to ring from the front of the community. 

There was no need for words. By the time Carol turned and opened her mouth to bark orders to her kids, Mika and Carl were already running up the stairs towards the windows. Windows they had checked over not five minutes before when they had talked their contingency plan over with Carol. 

Ron and Sam were slightly panicking, but they got it together - at least Ron did - when they saw the other two run upstairs. Their job was simpler. Carol, knowing they didn’t have any experience with emergencies, had only asked them to get the bags they had prepared to Mika and Carl, and to get their asses to the roof with the other two kids. 

Carol would take care of Judith. 

“I’m going to go help,” Maggie said as she watched Carol strap Judith back to her chest. “Maybe I can do something.”

“You know I can’t go, I need to look after them.” There was no need to explain why they were her first priority. They all knew they had to be everyone’s first priority. 

“Mom!” Mika’s voice rang from outside. “They are coming in from the front! And I can’t see Connor anywhere!”

“I have to go.” 

Maggie nodded, watching as Carol grabbed her rifle and carried herself upstairs with Judy calmly snuggled to her bosom. A small smile on her face appeared as she gently touched her abdomen. She just hoped one day she could be as badass as Carol was. 

“I can’t see Dad anywhere!” 

Carol touched Mika’s head softly, once Carl and Ron had helped her through the windows out onto the porch roof. “He’s Connor, you know he’s going to be alright.” 

Mika nodded, allowing herself a moment to fall into her mother’s arms before stepping back and going to help the boys close all the shutters leading to them. 

They’d had only a few minutes before to plan what they would do in case something like this happened, and Carol was glad to see the kids were all following her instructions to the letter. In the minutes between when Connor left, and when Maggie ran in excited about balloons, they had been able not only to stash food, cushions, a couple of sleeping bags, and blankets on the roof, but they had prepared the before-mentioned extra bags they had carried outside. 

And now with the shutters closed, even if the walkers were to get into their home … the chances of any of them getting close enough to hurt them were slim. 

They also had all the ammo they had been able to find inside of their house. It wasn’t as much as Carol would have liked, but it was enough. 

“Carl, Mika.” Her two kids were already checking their weapons, making sure they had enough ammo as she started to order them around. “I need you two to climb up there,” Carol said pointing towards the second story roof, “I need you to keep a look out for anyone who needs help, so we can help them.”

“Shoot walkers if they are too close, direct them to other houses if they look overwhelmed?” Carol was so proud of how much Mika had grown since they had left the prison. In reality, in just a couple of months, the kid seemed to have bloomed away from her sister, as much pain as that had caused all of them. 

“Yes, sweetheart.” 

Her kids were ready for this. She had made sure of it. 

-.-.-.

His steps were steady, but he couldn’t let himself think too much about the pain in his shoulder. The steady throb was definitely better than the days before, but it was a constant ache which affected him still. 

His wife might have been right when she said he was not yet fully recovered. But who among them was really healthy? They all had pains and aches by now, what was one more?

Especially when the guy who had basically accused his wife of being a psychopath was acting incredibly shady. 

Connor’s plan had been exactly what he had told Carol he was going to do. He was walking towards the entrance, to check on Rick and the rest of their family. Carol was staying back at the house to set up a plan with the kids for when the walkers eventually broke through the walls. 

Because they were all realistic, and with the luck they all seemed to have lately, they were going to break through. 

He never thought they would choose the exact moment when he was halfway through the town, finding himself surrounded by them without a way of getting back home in one piece. 

Morgan was running just a few feet ahead of him, the bastard had probably known he had distracted Connor from his original goal and had been trying to lose him within their community walls. 

In turn, destiny seemed to want to have a laugh at them, forcing them into one of the unoccupied houses at the opposite edge of where he had his own. With only a man with a stick, his own five shooter, and his knife at hand. 

“We need to get out of here,” Connor yelled at Morgan as he pushed his knife into a walker’s head, barely having enough time to pull the trigger on another one who was getting way too close to him. 

Morgan said nothing, following Connor as he climbed up the steps behind him, wincing when Connor’s gun went off close to his ear. 

“Sorry about that,” Connor murmured as he closed the door behind Morgan, the other man immediately moving off sight from the windows. The walkers seemed to forget about them, called away by some other screaming victim a couple of minutes later. 

“You alright?” Morgan asked, pointing towards where Connor’s shoulder wound had very clearly started to bleed through his shirt once again. 

“Motherfucker, my wife’s going to kill me.” At Morgan’s raised eyebrow Connor rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a fucking tool, it’s figurative speach. I know you have a fucking bone to pick with her, but just fucking drop it before I make you do so.”

“I’m not trying to pick a fight with you.”

“Sorry, looder.” Connor moved to look through the window, double checking the walkers were moving past their house. “You picked a fight with me the moment you made my wife second guess herself.”

“She kills people indiscriminately.”

“Keep telling yourself that, dryshite.” The anger in Connor’s eyes made Morgan take a step back, his stick rising slightly as a reflex. “Are you going to try and hit me with that?”

“No.” Morgan’s words came out too fast, his eyes looking towards the stairs as if he was ready to bolt. 

Connor rolled his eyes again, wincing as he pushed at his wound hissing as it caused his fingers to stain with his own blood. “You are a fucking tool, and once this is through, you better stay the fuck away from my family.”

“Or what, you’ll kill me?”

“My wife might be a good person, but I’m not. You make my wife, or any of my brethren second guess themselves once more, and becoming a part of that herd will be the least of your problems.”

He didn’t wait for Morgan’s answer, taking two steps at a time Connor began climbing the stairs. He needed to see what was going on, needed to see if he could make contact with Carol and the kids. 

He needed to make sure everyone was alright. 

-.-.-.-

Zach almost wept the moment he saw his fathers get off the military truck. They barely gave him any time to say anything, pulling him into a group hug. They smelled like safety, they smelled like home. 

“Oh lad, what the fuck happened here?”

He just felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It wasn’t like he was a kid anymore. He was an adult by apocalypse standards, but just like with his mother … they made him feel like everything would be alright. 

“Hey.” He hadn’t even noticed he had been crying until Daryl’s soft voice caused him to look up. Papa bear looked worse for wear, the whiteness of his cheeks not fitting with how he had looked when he had last seen them the day before. 

“You hurt?”

“You’re already picking after your mother, I see.” Murphy tried to make light of the situation, putting his hand on Zach’s neck and bumping his forehead to the side of the boy’s head. “Mother henning us all.”

Daryl just rolled his eyes at his brother, choosing to answer their kid instead. “Got shot, ‘m alright.”

“You look like shit,” Zach murmured before he hugged Daryl close. Murphy couldn’t help but smile seeing his brother hugging their kid back. They had all come so far, Daryl especially. 

“As much as I hate to interrupt such a touching moment -”

“No you don’t, you’re a dick,” Murphy interrupted Abraham.

“We need to know what the ever loving fuck happened? Why are you here and not inside?”

“Half the herd broke away, we got trapped in town last night …”

“And the town is overrun, so we should go away.” Zach sighed as Enid interrupted Glenn’s explanation, the girl regressing more often than he could handle. 

“Shut the fuck up and let Glenn talk, princess.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Fuck you.”

“Zach.” Murphy calling out his name quieted him down immediately, his chest losing the constricting feeling he had started to feel once more at once. “Calm the fuck down, we’ve got this.”

“As I was saying …” Glenn crossed his arms looking at Abraham and Murphy, as Zach stood closer to Daryl. “We got here like an hour ago, walkers are surrounding the walls, we were going towards the opposite side to climb up to assess the damage and see where we could help.”

“Climb the walls?”

“She was going to show you how she and the deputy keep getting out?”

Enid blushed at the glare Murphy threw her way, trying to hide behind her long hair. 

“Basically,” Glenn sighed. “We just need to walk around the herd, to get to a climbable position and get in.”

“Let’s do th-”

The sound of the tower crashing down interrupted whatever Sasha was about to say. Their eyes met, wide as dinner plates as gunshots immediately started to ring out. 

“What the fuck happened now?!” Murphy cried out as he started pushing his son, and his brother towards the military truck. 

“We need to get going, now!” 

Daryl was up on the back of the truck faster than Murphy could complain, with Zach practically pushing Enid up without her consent. Tina had already been hauled up to the back by Murphy, who knew Sasha and Glenn needed the space up front. 

Their newest stray had tucked herself into Murphy’s side, practically hanging onto him as Sasha sped down the road. 

They were needed back home, at once. 

“Who the fuck is this?!” 

-.-.-.-.

“There.” 

Carol knew in another world, to have her kid being able to pinpoint and shoot a target at 15 yards from them, would have horrified her. In the world in which they lived now, all she wanted to do - and did - was congratulate Mika on a good shot. 

A shot which had saved one of their neighbors’ lives. 

The dead had swarmed around every house in the not-so-safe zone, and with most of the residents unfamiliar with the situation, they had been sitting ducks. A bunch of ducks who would have perished, if not for the accuracy of Mika and Carl. 

She should admonish them as they sat on the second story’s roof, counting walkers kills as they brought them down. But in the end, they were kids, and if having some sibling rivalry between them brought their best out … who was she to stomp on their fun. 

“Just remember not to waste ammo.”

“Yes, mom.”

“Yes, Carol.”

Judith was being an angel, as she usually was. The poor kid knew - even at her young age - when to keep quiet, unlike one of the two newly adopted kids she had brought into their family. 

“I want to shoot,” Ron whined for the eleventh time since they had gotten to their positions. She had explained more than once before, why they couldn’t waste ammo, but the teenager was starting to get on her nerves. 

“Carol said you can’t, so shut the fuck up.” Sam’s answer from where he was sitting in a corner surrounded by blankets surprised Carol. The boy had grown some guts out of nowhere. 

“Language.” 

“Oh, Mom, c’mon!” Mika called from her position. “It’s like the first curse word I got him to say.”

“You are a bad influence, ya know?” The tone in Carol’s voice was clearly teasing, but she winked at Sam to make sure he understood they were just joking. 

“I’m the best fucking influence he could ever have.” 

“Yeah, right.” Carol just chuckled when Mika threw a pebble she had found next to her at Carl’s head. “You’re a menace.”

“At least Sam is brave enough to curse, not like someone else who will remain nameless.”

“Leave Carl alone, baby. It’s not his fault his father doesn’t curse like a drunken Irishman.”

“How can you be so calm?” Ron softly asked, moving to sit beside Carol a little closer to the edge. The walkers under them seemed to hear them, but they weren’t smart enough to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. “They are just waiting for us.”

“I’m not calm.” Carol sighed, moving to bump her shoulder against Ron’s. “I just know when to save my energy.”

The boy shook his head, his hands shaking as he moved them to set them over his knees. 

“Right now, there’s nothing we can do other than wait and see if anyone around us needs help.” She pointed at where Carl and Mika were now lying in wait, no longer shooting. “We are safe, and in an advantageous position against them. As we speak, I’m already trying to think of a way to get us out of here. There’s no use in panicking. Panicking has never saved anyone.”

“And you have?” His words were not filled with malice, the boy needed to hear it from her. He needed someone to reassure him that he was safe, that someone was not going to let him get hurt. 

“Carol once exploded a whole compound to save all of us,” Carl answered before Carol could, jumping to the part of the ceiling where they were sitting. “And she did it without any help.”

“Carl.”

“No, really,” Carl continued, not caring about Carol wanting to downplay what she had done. “She saved our necks, they were ready to start the barbeque … with us as the main dish.”

“Ewwwwww,” Sam interjected from his spot, Judith sleeping by his side. “That’s disgusting.”

“I know, right?”

“Mom!” Mika’s voice caused Carol to jump to her feet. “I think I can see Dad!” 

With Carl’s help, Carol climbed on top of the second story moving as fast as she could towards where Mika was straddling the middle. And then she saw it, across the community, on top of one of the buildings towards the front stood Connor waving his arms around. 

“He’s okay,” Carol breathed out, her hand going to her chest as if to try and stop her heart from beating out of her chest. 

“Of fucking course, he is., He’s Connor fucking MacDixon.”

“Don’t think you aren’t getting a punishment for that mouth once this is all done,” Carol murmured softly against Mika’s forehead as she moved to kiss her little girl. 

“I’ll sic my dads on you.”

“As if they could stop me.”

-.-.-.-.

They were alright. 

It’s not as though he’d doubted his wife, but it was great to have visual confirmation of the fact. 

It had taken a bit out of him, with his messed up shoulder and all, but he needed to have a look towards their home. His messy climb onto the roof had paid off.

They were too far away to be able to properly communicate, but there was no way anyone else was on top of the roof of their home other than his wife and kids. They were safe, they were alright. 

Now he only needed to find a way to get back to them. 

His shoulder throbbed like a motherfucker, the bleeding having slowed down - thank God for small mercies. Having only one good arm was not optimal, especially if he wanted to get back to his wife and kids in one piece, but there was nothing he could do to change it. 

It was definitely not optimal when climbing down from a roof with a slope, but what else could he do right then? 

It wasn’t like he would trust Morgan to climb and try to see if his wife and kids were visible. Being stuck inside with the asshole who had been making his wife feel like shit was not good, not good at all. Every time Connor saw Morgan, he felt the need to punch him in the face. He wasn’t who he’d been twenty years ago, so he was able to keep himself from doing that … but just barely. 

If the man tried to say his wife enjoyed killing one more time, he wasn’t sure what his reaction was going to be. No, he was lying. He knew exactly what his reaction would be, and that reaction would end up with Morgan banging on the door with walkers all around him. 

Morgan wasn’t on the first floor when he finally walked downstairs. Connor knew he wasn’t upstairs, and the man didn’t have the means to go out and fight against the herd alone. There was only one place he could be, and that was the basement. 

“More fucking stairs.” He was in a mood. It wasn’t only that he was separated from his family at a time of need, his shoulder was killing him and he had checked his gun only to notice he had run out of bullets. “Fucking five shooter.”

He could have tried to climb over the wall to the next house over, and maybe find a way to the armory. But his arm was too useless, and knowing fucking Morgan, he would refuse for some fucked up principle of his. 

“Once I finally get home,” Connor muttered to himself as he looked around the ground floor once again before starting his way down, “I’m gonna go to bed, and stay there until next week.”

He was a few steps away from the bottom when he stopped suddenly, almost causing himself to miss a step. There were voices down there, one of them clearly Morgan, but the other was an unknown voice. 

Unknown voices were a rarity these days. It wasn’t as if he knew everyone’s voice by heart, but they had been in the community long enough that he’d had the opportunity to meet if not everyone … almost everyone. 

And the man’s voice coming up the stairs was one he had never heard before. Slowly, with his knife now clutched in his ‘good’ hand, he continued his descent. If there was something Daryl had made sure to drill into all of their hard heads it was how to be quiet, how - especially when hunting - silence was of the utmost importance. 

Silence was what gave him the advantage this time. 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” 

Connor’s expression caused all three persons in the basement to jump in alarm. Denise immediately moved away from tending to the stranger’s wound, while Morgan clutched his stick tighter, raising it in front of him while putting himself between Connor and the man on the floor. 

“This can wait.” Connor gritted his teeth, momentarily taking his eyes off the man to motion to Denise to move back. “He’s not going to hurt her.”

“Have you forgotten that they just killed sixteen people, and caused this whole fucking shitshow?”

“People can change.” Morgan glared at the man when he openly laughed. “We don’t have to kill.”

“If you don’t kill me now, I’m just going to slit your throat later.” 

Connor sneered at the man, taking a step forward only to be brought back by Morgan moving his staff. 

“Are you really willing to fight for him? Are you willing to die for him?”

“All life is precious.” Carol had told him about Morgan’s mantra, and Connor had to take a deep breath to keep himself from losing his shit. 

“Sure, life is precious.” He could feel everyone’s eyes on him, but Connor didn’t waver from looking at the man behind Morgan. “My wife’s life is precious, my daughter’s life is precious … fuck even your sorry life is precious.” Connor moved his gaze from the stranger to Morgan for a second before returning to glare at their captive. 

“Him? He’s not going to have the chance to even breathe on my wife’s and daughter’s surroundings.” 

Connor lunged at the man on the floor, crying out when Morgan managed to keep him from reaching with a smack from his staff on his bad shoulder. 

“Motherfucker!”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Connor.” Blood was starting to drip from Connor’s fingertips, his shoulder wound definitely having reopened with Morgan’s hit. “We can just keep him here, he will never see the light of day again.”

Connor laughed, just in time for the wolf to interrupt Morgan’s tirade. “I would escape, and after hearing all this my first stop would be his home.” 

The grip Connor had on his knife shifted, his knuckles cracking as it did so. “If I don’t get to kill you, my wife would … easily.”

“Would that be before or after I have my way with her?” 

“Get out of my way Morgan,” Connor warned. “I don’t want to have to kill you. You saved my brother once. Get out of the way.”

“I won’t. And you can’t kill me.”

“Morgan, you have no idea of what I can or can’t do. So move.”

“No.”

“Then get cracking, lad. Otherwise get the fuck out of my way.”

-.-.-.-.

“Fuck me twice over.”

Daryl’s were an exact replica of what his brother had just said. Fuck them twice over. 

The sound they had all heard was the tower falling and creating a gaping hole in the otherwise structurally integral wall surrounding their home. Too bad half the fucking hoard was waiting for something like that to happen to enter like fucking cockraches.

“Mom,” Zach whimpered from where he was standing between Murphy and Daryl. “Do you think she’s alright?”

He sounded like a little kid, and it broke Daryl’s heart. “Yeah,” he grumbled, putting his good arm around the boy’s shoulders and pulling him close. “What’s a little herd for your mother.”

“Papa bear has a fair point, Zach.” The need to cringe at Murphy’s use of the nickname both Zach and Mika had taken to using for him was strong, he just hoped Abraham didn’t try to repeat it. There would be blood if he did, he couldn’t be sure if it would be his or Abraham’s, but he was sure there would be some bleeding involved. “Your mum is probably already thinking of a way to get rid of them all.”

“We can start honking,” Abraham mused as they watched even more walkers go inside the walls. “Try and get them to follow us again.”

“You could do that, take Tina with you.” Murphy ordered, moving off the truck’s bed, before turning to help Daryl off. “It won’t be enough, the ones inside are probably going to get trapped inside.”

“It’s a bottleneck now. You can take the ones left out here, while we move towards the west wall. That will be the first one to clear.” 

Enid was still standing on the bed of the truck, looking fixated to where the walkers were slowly but steadily entering their community. 

“Enid!” Glenn yelled at her, finally snapping her out of her thoughts. “I think you should go with Abraham and Sasha, keep an eye out and help them.”

“I think you should go with them, too,” Murphy said softly to Daryl, moving so they were a little away from the rest as they argued. Because Murphy knew they were going to argue.

“Fuck no.”

“You were shot, you fucking reek of blood. Do you think we’ll be able to sneak through any of them with you like this?”

Daryl growled at his brother, his chest rising and falling faster than it usually would. 

“Look at yourself, Declan.” Zach tried to pretend he didn’t see Daryl’s wince as Murphy moved to put his hand over his brother’s neck. “You can’t climb the walls with just one good arm.”

“I can do it!” 

“For fucks sake, Daryl! I can’t be worrying about you, about Zach, and about Carol at the same fucking time!” 

Zach winced as he noticed everyone’s eyes turning to the brothers, who were by now facing each other. It was crazy to think the two of them hadn’t been together until the last year, identical images of each other - even to the way they were glaring at each other. 

“Fuck you!”

“I think Murphy’s right.” Sasha didn’t even flinch at Daryl’s glare turning on her, her demeanor icy as Zach knew her to be when the situation called for. “You will be more helpful when we can make sure you’re not going to keel over and die, than you will be slowing them down.”

“Fuck you, princess.”

“Dad.” Zach’s calmer tone seemed to help wind Daryl down. “You know you can’t come with us.”

“Fuck.” 

Murphy didn’t wait for his brother to move, when he was already pulling him into his arms. He knew Daryl’s voice like his own, and behind his last word he had been able to hear the tears simmering in them. 

Daryl hated being weak, and as his brother hugged him close, he allowed the few tears he had felt accumulating in his eyes, out. It wasn’t like he was never going to see his brother, or his kid again. It was just frustrating. 

He had been trying to do the right thing, only to get a fucking injury to his fucking shoulder that was now keeping him from standing at his family’s side. 

“Give them hell,” Murphy whispered as he moved back to put their foreheads together. 

“Of fucking course.”

-.-.-.-

“Carl!”

Mika’s voice made the boy look up from where he had been taking a break on the first floor ledge. 

“I think I see your dad!” 

Carol quickly took Judith from him, allowing for his climb up to the second floor roof. There, Mika was pointing towards what used to be the Anderson's house until less than a week before. 

And through one of the windows, Carl could see his dad and Michonne talking to someone who was lying on a bed, the windows had curtains but they were mostly for show allowing him to see his dad clear as day. 

“Dad!” 

Mika had enough sense to grab the back of Carl’s shirt as he almost jumped off the roof waving his arms trying to get his father to notice him. 

“Dad!”

Nothing happened. Rick continued to talk to Michonne, seemingly not hearing any of the ruckus his son was creating. 

“Dad!”

“Carl,” Mika said softly from behind him, gulping as she looked down to see the walkers reacting to Carl’s voice and starting to pile up even more right under their house. “I think they can hear you.”

“My dad chose that house because the windows had double panels,” Ron murmured as both Carl and Mika hoped down to where the rest of them sat. “I think he did it so no one could hear us.”

“Fucking dammit!” 

Carol sighed, passing Judith back to Carl, knowing the girl was always able to calm her brother down. It would have been very helpful if Rick had noticed them there. They were two houses over which was a lot closer than where Connor was currently stuck. 

It wasn’t as if they weren’t safe. They had food, and once the initial onslaught finished, they could climb down and barricade the doors properly. But, as good as Mika and Carl were at shooting things, a little grown up backup would go a long way. 

The far away sound of a car honking drew their attention. It seemed like someone outside of their community was trying to draw the walkers away. 

“Papa bear!” The smile on Mika’s face, as she turned to look at Carol was enough to bring one to her own face. They were in trouble, but just like her kid, she knew there was no one else out there who could do whatever that truck was doing than Daryl and Murphy. 

“And Murph,” Carl added. “It’s gotta be them!”

His mood had certainly lifted, with his little sister in his arms and the possibility of who had become a second father of sorts coming back. Carol looked the next house over, the possibility of Rick seeing them from inside the Anderson’s place would be higher if they were just one house over. 

There was no way she could make the jump. As much as her boys liked to tell her she wasn’t old, she wasn’t a young thing either. The gap was maybe ten feet long, and to top that she couldn’t dare to leave the kids alone. 

At least not Sammy and Judith. 

But could she ask Carl to take the chance? The boy would certainly take it, but would he be able to make the jump? Was it worth the risk?

“Ron!” 

Carol barely had any chance to even turn, when Ron ran past her and leaped towards the next house. It seemed like he stayed afloat forever, her heart not beating as long as he stood on the air. 

“Son of a bitch!” Mika’s reaction at Ron’s crash landing on the other house restarted her heart. 

“What the fuck?!” Carl asked, getting to his feet and moving to stand next to Carol across the gap from where Ron was now grinning at them. 

“I was part of the track team before everything went to shit.” He still had a shit eating grin on his face, the first one Carol had seen - which made the whole thing even more fucked up. “I knew I could make the jump.”

“But why?!” It was Mika now who looked at the boy like he had lost his mind. The walkers under them seemingly starting to move around more at hearing them. 

“I thought I could try and get Rick’s attention, you were never going to get it from here.”

“Ron.” Carol sighed, pressing her hands to her face in exasperation. These kids were going to drive her insane one of these days. “You could have gotten hurt.”

“But I didn’t.”

Carol was tempted to jump across the gap and dangle him down from a foot, just to see the wiseass smirk on his face disappear. 

“Go and get Rick’s attention, tell him we’re fine and ask him if he has a plan.”

“But don’t you already have a plan, Carol?” Sam asked, eying his brother with concern. 

The faith her newest charge had in her made Carol’s heart skip a beat. Even Ron, standing across in the next house’s roof was looking at her with unshakable trust. It was daunting. 

“Yes, I do.” Carol lied through her teeth. She had the start of a plan, not a full one. It was better than anything else, but she needed adults for any real plan to work. The kids were good so far at staying put - most of them - and doing what she asked them to do. But they lacked strength, and they didn’t have enough ammo for assault. “We just need to see what Rick has in mind so we don’t end up clashing and making everything worse.”

They seemed to believe her. 

Ron disappeared from her eyesight. 

Her heart skipped another beat. 

-.-.-.

It wasn’t until there was a crash, a sound strong enough to catch not only his attention - but that of the walkers lingering outside - that Rick Grimes noticed the boy waving at him from the next house’s roof. 

Ron had apparently thrown something, which had bounced off the window and crashed into a glass panel downstairs. 

“Rick! There’s walkers coming!” Michonne’s voice came from downstairs, as she rushed up with Gabriel at her heels. “Something crashed and they followed the sound into-”

It was noticeable the moment she saw Ron, a confused face turning to look at Rick. 

“I don’t know, I just saw him.”

“We need to get out of here,” Gabriel panted as he turned to look at the still empty hallway. “They are coming in.”

“I can’t leave you,” Reg sobbed, as he grabbed Deanna’s hand and kissed it. “I can’t go on without you.”

“You have to.” She was calm, she knew what was coming. There was no coming back from a bite, and she was cold headed enough to know her husband at least had a chance. “You have to go with them.”

“No.”

“You have to live.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, meant for her husband only. Michonne, Rick, and Gabriel tried to appear busy, as to allow the two founders of the safe zone a chance to say goodbye. “You have to live for Spencer, for the community.”

Reg murmured something to his wife, low enough to stay between them. 

The moment was only broken by the sound of someone knocking frantically on the window closest to where Rick was standing. The sudden noise made everyone jump startled, their hearts barely able to be contained inside their chest until they saw who was the source of the noise. 

Ron was clearly yelling something to them, the sound muffled by the window insulation. 

“We need to open these.”

“They are sealed,” Reg said as he stood from where he had been kneeling at Deanna’s side. “We should have known there’s a reason why Pete chose this house since the beginning.”

“Fuck,” Rick cursed, as he looked at something to throw against the window. They had to break, didn’t they?

“Check all of them, check every single window up here,” Rick ordered, “There must be at least one we can break, we need to get to the armory somehow but they seemed to have a point, climbing to the roof seems our best bet right now.”

“On it.”

-.-.-.-

“I will kill you, to kill him,” Connor hissed, his eyes not leaving Morgan’s. “I will not hesitate, I will kill you if I have to.”

“Then you are no better than them.”

“I never said I was.” 

“You should kill me,” the man said a smile on his face when he saw Morgan look at him. “You’re all going to die anyway.”

Denise gasped as Connor took a step closer to the man, Morgan immediately moving to put his stick in between Connor and the wolf. 

“You don’t belong here.”

“And you do?” Connor chuckled, “You are the scum of the earth.”

“It’s not your job to get rid of it,” Morgan murmured, his stick touching Connor’s chest as he continued moving forward. “Don’t do it.”

“Move aside, Morgan.”

“No.”

Connor rolled his eyes, pushing Morgan’s stick away with his hand as he moved to step closer to the man sitting down a few steps ahead. It was Denise’s gasp who alerted him - barely in time - to duck as Morgan took a swipe at him with his stick. 

“Fuck you are tryng to pull?” Connor grumbled as he took a few steps back, standing with his knees slightly bent, knife at hand. “Are you really going to fight me over this piece of shit?”

“All life is precious.”

“I’ll show you something precious.” Morgan blocked Connor’s knife with his stick, getting a hiss out of Connor as he slapped his hand with it. “Son of a bitch!”

“Connor, just stop.”

“He ain’t leaving the place alive.”

“I can’t let you kill him.”

“You ain’t  _ letting  _ me do shit.” 

The next time Connor charged at Morgan he did it without hesitation. He faked taking a swipe with his knife, only to tackle Morgan by the waist and pushing him against the wall. 

The impact made both men wince, with Morgan trying to get Connor to let go of him by pushing his stick against the back of his head. 

“I don’t want to have to kill you, Morgan.” The tip of Connor’s knife was against the other man’s side, right against his ribs. Morgan knew that with a slight push of Connor’s wrist, he was a goner. 

“Connor!”

He didn't react in time, suddenly slumping against Morgan trapping him against the wall. This just gave the wolf just enough chance to disarm both men before he moved to put Connor’s knife against Denise’s throat.

Morgan pushed Connor off him, wincing when the other man slumped to the ground. The back of Connor’s head was bloody.

“You were enjoying your fight so much, you seemed to forget about me.” The man grinned, putting Connor’s gun - which the man had taken when he had approached them - on the back of his pants. “I told you I was going to get out.”

Morgan looked down at an unmoving Connor before finding Denise’s panicked gaze. 

“Everything is going to be alright.”

The man wolf chuckled. 

-.-.-.-.

The herd was not really following them. 

Daryl growled, trying to keep himself from sneering at Tina as she looked worriedly at him. He should be with his kid and his brother, not stuck in the truck with the girls.

Abraham would want to have a word with him if he knew this thoughts, but Daryl was mad. He was mad at himself mostly, since it had been his own fucking fault he had gotten shot. 

If only they had left Tina and her sister back there, they would have been back before the wall had collapsed. Maybe, maybe they would have been able to avoid the whole shitstorm his family was having to navigate through. 

Meanwhile he was sitting on a truck, watching as just the few walkers lingering outside followed them. 

“It’s not enough.”

“What did you just say?” Enid asked him, huffing when Daryl rolled his eyes at her. 

He didn’t answer, he turned and banged on the side of the truck to get Abraham’s attention. 

“It’s not enough, not enough of them are following us!” 

“There’s nothing much we can do,” Sasha yelled out of the window, barely taking any time to turn and look at Daryl. “We have to keep going.”

The walkers were too close, and he was too injured to just jump out the truck’s cab. It hurt, to the deepest parts of him, to be unable to join his brother and his kid in trying to get back to their wife. 

“Don’t even think about it,” Enid sneered at Daryl, as his hands whitened from how hard he was gripping his gun. “Zach told you to stay put, you will get yourself killed.”

“Shut up.” 

“Your son dragged me back here, I’m not shutting up!”

“Shut up.”

He could feel Tina’s scared gaze on him, and he did not care. He was hurting, he was angry, he was desperate to do something to help his family. 

“If you do something stupid, Zach will never forgive you.” Those words coming from Enid were finally what caused Daryl to deflate where he was sitting. He knew she was right, he knew they were right. 

He hated it, but he was more of a hindrance than a help at the time. And to get his ass bitten just because he was being fucking stubborn would be one of the stupidiest ways to die. Ever. 

Daryl would also never live it down if that were to happen. He would have his brothers on his ass, and Merle on him as soon as he got to the other side. 

“Shut up.”

Enid shared a winning smile with Tina, as they both watched Daryl sprawl again on the back of the truck. 

-.-.-.

Carol heard the noise of the window breaking a few minutes before she got to see Ron jumping back to the next houses’ roof again. Her respite at seeing one of the kids she was looking after safe did not last very long, since the next moment found her trying to grab at the back of Carl’s shirt as he leaped across the gap. 

“I’m going to kick your ass, Carl Grimes,” Carol grumbled as the boy threw her a grin over his shoulder. He tried to pass it as if it was nothing, but she had noticed he barely had been able to make the jump.

He didn’t say anything after that, moving fast towards where Ron was now trying to help Rick and Michonne put a door across the gap between the Anderson’s house and where Ron and Carl were standing. 

“Carol,” Sam whimpered, moving to burrow even more into her side, grabbing one of Judy’s little hands. “Are they going to make it?”

It was a fair question, and Carol put an arm around Sam’s shoulders as she saw Michonne try their made-up bridge. Carol felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest as she saw her friend slowly make her way across the gap between houses. 

She couldn’t see. As she saw Ron and Carl basically stand on the side of the door to ground it as Reg started trying to make his way, she just couldn’t watch anymore. 

Mika gave her a look, understanding clear on her little face. Her kid was a survivor, she had to become one after everything they had gone through… and her kid knew her. 

“Reg is through,” Mika said softly from where she was sitting on the second floor roof. “Carl and Ron are doing alright. They are trying to help Deanna through.” 

Judy fussing forced her attention to other matters, but it was not possible to try and avoid it once they finally made it to the gap between their house and next door’s. 

“Carol,” Rick called across the gap. “Thank you.” She knew what he meant with those two words, thanks for taking care of my kids, thank you for allowing him to worry about everybody else except his own kids, thank you for not killing me once this is over because I sent your husbands away… all of those were encompassed in those two simple words. 

“Any time.”

Deanna was dying. By now Carol knew some of the signs, her skin was clammy and she was being dragged by Gabriel and Reg as Michonne and the boys worked on getting the door to the next gap. 

“She just needs some rest.” Rick lied to Sam, as he noticed the boy’s shocked and terrified face. “She’ll be okay.”

“Carol?” Sam asked softly, moving so he was closer to her side. 

“She was probably bitten,” Carol said softly, unwilling to lie to her newfound son. “But we fight for the living, until they stop being one.”

Sam gulped, nodding as his hand moved until he could hook his fingers on Carol’s belt hoop. “Thank you,” he whispered as he rested his head against her shoulder, his breath hitching when Carl jumped across the gap just as Mika was about to get down and help with the door. 

“I’m going to kill you, Carl Grimes,” Mika sneered as she hit him in the back of the head before moving back until she was giving them enough space to maneuver. 

“You love me, MacDixon.” Carl shared a smile with Ron across the gap as Mika huffed indignant at his claim. “ You wouldn't know what to do without me if I wasn’t in your life.”

“Eat shit, Grimes.”

Some of the walkers that had originally been attracted by the mess at the Anderson’s house were back on the streets after not finding anything worth their while, they were still not gathering specifically under them but they were back on the street. 

“Kids,” Rick said exasperated as he helped Reg get on the makeshift bridge, holding his hand as long as he was able to. “Stop yammering and pay attention at what you are doing.”

The door creaked under Reg’s weight. They should have let Michonne through first, to have someone give Reg a hand once Rick wasn’t able to. Carol would not put her kids at risk for Reg, she would not put her kids at risk for anyone. 

The door creaked again as Reg stumbled across to their roof. 

One down, five to go. 

-.-.-.-.-.

They made it to the tree Enid had sent them to. It was closer to the gate part of the community than towards the back where their house was. But they were close to their family. 

“Fuck my life,” Zach muttered as together with Glenn they watched how overrun their home really was. 

“Second that,” Murphy added, feeling like his stomach was hitting the floor. There were walkers everywhere, some were feeding on some of the fallen. Their house was not visible from where they were standing. 

“We need to move.”

“Oh shit, that’s Maggie!”

“Fuck.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not so much at Tumblr as I used to, but you can still find me as geektaire there. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for your support, especially to those who had let me know throughout the years of our shared loved for this bunch.


End file.
